
Class, < M^ gT£V 
Book_ 



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A. K. McCLURE 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



AND 



HOW WE MAKE THEM 



BY 



A. K. McCLURE, LL.D. 



ILLUSTRATED 




NEW YORK AND LONDON 
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 

19OO 












63366 



Copyright, i?oo, by A. K. McCluxe. 
All rights reserved. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

The Washington Elections, 1789-92 1 

The Jefferson- Adams-Burr Contest, 1 800-1 12 

The Jefferson-Pinckney Contest, 1804 . . / 21 

The Madison-Pinckney-Clinton Contests, 1808-12 25 

The Monroe Elections, 1816-20 32 

The Adams-Jackson-Crawford-Clay Contest, 1824 39 

The Jackson- Adams-Clay Contests, 1828-32 47 

The Van Buren-Harrison Contest, 1836 59 

The Harrison- Van Buren Contest, 1840 65 

The Polk-Clay Contest, 1844 75 

The Taylor-Cass-Van Buren Contest, 1848 94 

The Pierce-Scott Contest, 1852 115 

The Buchanan-Fremont-Ftllmore Contest, 1856 130 

The Lincoln-Breckenridge-Douglas-Bell Contest, i860 . . .154 

The Lincoln-McClellan Contest, 1864 183 

The Grant-Seymour Contest, 1868 202 

The Grant-Greeley Contest, 1872 221 

The Hayes-Tilden Contest, 1876 244 

The Garfield-Hancock Contest, 1880 270 

The Cleveland-Blaine Contest, 1884 288 

The Harrison-Cleveland Contest, 1888 316 

The Cleveland-Harrison-Weaver Contest, 1892 337 

The McKinley-Bryan Contest, 1896 361 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



A. K. McCLURE Frontispiece 

GEORGE WASHINGTON Facing p. x 

JOHN ADAMS " 12 

THOMAS JEFFERSON " 20 

JAMES MADISON " 24 

JAMES MONROE . " 32 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS „ " 38 

ANDREW JACKSON " 46 

MARTIN VAN BUREN " 58 

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON " 64 

JOHN TYLER " 70 

JAMES K. POLK " 74 

ZACHARY TAYLOR " 94 

MILLARD FILLMORE " 106 

FRANKLIN PIERCE " H4 

JAMES BUCHANAN " 130 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN " 154 

ANDREW JOHNSON " 182 

ULYSSES S. GRANT " 202 

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES " 244 

JAMES A. GARFIELD " 270 

CHESTER A. ARTHUR " 274 

GROVER CLEVELAND " 288 

BENJAMIN HARRISON " 316 

WILLIAM MCKINLEY " 360 



INTRODUCTION 



The crux of American politics is the quadrennial elec- 
tion of President. In the ebb and flow of our political 
activity the flood-tide comes in the Presidential contests. 
There are often tumultuous struggles and decisive events 
in the intervals, but their political effect and all the issues 
and movements of parties crystallize in the recurring con- 
flict for the possession of the chief executive power. 

Our American system makes the President the centre 
and focus of political life. He is at once Prime Minister 
and independent executive. He blends the functions of 
what in parliamentary government is the head of the 
Cabinet, and what in other government is the head of the 
State. He is a vital part of the legislative power without 
being amenable to its control or dependent on its life. 
He is the framer of policies and the arbiter of parties. 
All this makes the election of President the central chord 
and the arterial force of our broad political action. 

The history of Presidential elections, if not the history 
of the nation, is at least the history of its determining 
periods. The successive epochs of our national progress, 
with their passionate struggles and controlling influences, 
are fully reflected in these contests. After the retirement 
of Washington the battles from 1800 for a quarter of a 
century, which gave the succession of Jefferson, Madison, 
and Monroe, marked the reaction from federal authority 
and the rise of the democratic impulse in the young 
Republic. Then came the period running through the 
three contests and two elections of Jackson, the heirship of 

vii 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Van Buren, and the cyclonic reversal under "Tippecanoe 
and Tyler too" in 1840, which turned on practical ques- 
tions of internal polity and signalized the transition from 
the formative stage of the government to the inevitable 
clash between the sections. This was followed by the 
long political and moral contention between freedom and 
slavery, which began with the success of Polk and the 
Texas annexation policy in 1844 an d ended with the 
defeat of the divided Democracy and the election of 
Lincoln in i860, when the political combat culminated 
in the armed and colossal struggle of the civil war. Since 
its conclusion and its settlements the nation has been 
engaged in the mighty work of internal upbuilding, never 
equalled anywhere else in the world, and the elections 
have involved the contending theories. 

The narrative of these elections, with the rise and fall of 
parties, their divisions and their creeds, presents the out- 
lines of the national development. For this work Colonel 
McClure, by experience, taste, and special knowledge, is 
peculiarly and pre-eminently fitted. It is doubtful if any 
other living American has borne so active and so intimate 
a part in so many Presidential elections. Not yet of age, 
but already a zealous and eager observer of political move- 
ments as a young editor, he attended the Whig National 
Convention of 1848 in Philadelphia, and witnessed the 
nomination of General Taylor. From that time he has 
been personally familiar with the inner workings of every 
national convention and campaign. Including this year, 
there have been twenty-nine Presidential contests in our 
history. Colonel McClure has actively participated in four- 
teen, or practically one-half of the entire number. 

He was born at Centre, Perry County, Pennsylvania, on 
the 9th of January, 1828. Spending his youth on his 
father's farm, he became a tanner's apprentice at fifteen, 
and remained at this trade for three years. His schooling 
was very limited, and his mental equipment was almost 
wholly the rich endowment nature had given him and 

viii 



INTRODUCTION 

the attainments which his extraordinary intellectual force 
brought in after-years. At nineteen he became the editor 
of the Juniata Sentinel, and his natural ability and vigor- 
ous pen soon gave him a recognized position and a dis- 
tinct influence. Before he was twenty-one he served as a 
conferee for Andrew G. Curtin in his Congressional can- 
didacy, and laid the foundations of his long and intimate 
friendship with the great War Governor. Speedily called 
to the editorship of a more important paper at Chambers- 
burg, his impress broadened, and in 1853, at the age of 
twenty-five, he was nominated by the Whigs for Auditor- 
General, the youngest man ever named by any party in 
Pennsylvania for a State office. Four years later he was 
elected to the Legislature, serving in the House and then 
in the Senate for several years. His career in that body 
was brilliant and distinctive. He was independent, fear- 
less, and aggressive, a ready and trenchant debater, and he 
displayed political and parliamentary abilities of the high- 
est order. 

In the Republican National Convention of i860 he 
played a prominent part. He and Curtin were potential 
in leading the Pennsylvania break from Cameron to Lin- 
coln, and in promoting the nomination of the latter. 
With that success he accepted the chairmanship of the 
State Committee, and made a dashing and energetic cam- 
paign, which resulted in the October State victory that as- 
sured and portended the election of Lincoln. This rela- 
tion to the contest and subsequent service with Governor 
Curtin, in directing Pennsylvania's part in the war, placed 
him on an intimate footing with the President, and during 
those dramatic and trying years he was a commanding 
figure in the State. Later he settled in Philadelphia in 
the practice of the law ; became one of the leading spirits 
in the Republican revolt of 1872 which led to the Greeley 
movement ; returned to the Legislature, where, free from 
party shackles, he waged unsparing war against jobbery 
and wrong, and where his forensic talent, his bold attacks, 

ix 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

and rare powers of invective and sarcasm made him at 
once respected and feared. Finally, he found what was 
to prove his higher and truer place, and entered upon 
what was to be his main life-work in the establishment of 
the Philadelphia Times, where he has had an ample and 
conspicuous arena for the editorial genius which has 
ranked him among the foremost journalists of the coun- . 
try. Here, for twenty-five years, with ripened experience 
and mellowed spirit, but with unabated passion for politi- 
cal movements, Colonel McClure has been both the actor 
and the critic in the great and constantly changing drama 
of public events. Standing between both parties, bound 
by neither, but in the counsels of each, he has been ex- 
ceptionally informed on all the currents of political activ- 
ity. No one has had a broader acquaintance with the 
public men of his time, or has been more thoroughly be- 
hind the scenes in the shifting transformations of pubiic 
action. From his earliest years politics has had an ex- 
traordinary fascination for his fertile mind, and his taste 
and talent for it have been equally marked. There has 
been no national convention of either party for years that 
he has not attended, and the episodes and influences 
which have turned the decision of the hour have been as 
familiar to him as the broader principles which have 
moulded the general course of action. 

Colonel McClure is thus peculiarly qualified, not only 
to present the large history of Presidential contests, but 
to illuminate it with the instructive side-lights which are 
as entertaining as they are suggestive. Comprehensive 
in its treatment, infused with the very life and spirit of 
political action, prepared with complete knowledge, and 
written in a style of singular charm and force, this work 
is not only a labor of love, but a valuable contribution to 
the historical literature of American politics. 

Charles Emory Smith 

Washington, April, 1900 



PREFACE 

I have endeavored in this volume to supply a want in 
our political history by giving not only a detailed and reliable 
report of the nomination and election of every President of 
the United States, but by giving with it many important 
sidelights relating to the selection and character of our 
Chief Magistrates. 

With a personal knowledge of national conventions cover- 
ing over half a century, and an intimate acquaintance with 
the chief actors of both parties in selecting Presidential 
candidates, I am able to give the inside movements of some 
of our important national struggles which are imperfectly 
understood. The inspiration and organization of all the 
various political parties, great and small, are concisely pre- 
sented, and the personal reminiscences of the struggles of 
the great men of the country have been most carefully 
prepared. 

Absolute accuracy in the preparation of political history 
covering a period of one hundred and twelve years is not 
to be expected, as record evidence is at times either imper- 
fectly preserved or entirely destroyed; but no pains have 
been spared to make this volume a complete and reliable 
history of our Presidents and how we make them. 

I am indebted to Edward Stanwood's " History of Presi- 
dential Elections" and to Greeley's " Political Text-Book 
of i860" for valuable data of the earlier conflicts for the 
Presidency. Many of the personal and political reminiscences 
given are an elaboration of a series of articles originally 
prepared for the Saturday Evening Post, of Philadelphia. 

A. K. M. 

Philadelphia, March 1, 1900. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON 



THE WASHINGTON ELECTIONS 

1789-1792 



The first election for President of the United States was 
held on the first Wednesday of January, 1789, and it was an 
election in which the people took no part whatever in most 
of the States. The election should have been held in 
November, 1788, but the Constitution of 1787, that required 
ratification by nine States to make it the supreme law of the 
nation, did not receive the approval of the requisite number 
of States until the 21st of June, 1788, when New Hampshire 
made up the ninth State approving it. Vermont followed 
five days later, and New York, after a bitter struggle, ratified 
the Constitution on the 26th of July. There was then ample 
time for Congress to make provisions for a Presidential 
election in November, but many weeks were wasted in a 
struggle for the location of the national capitol, and it was 
not until the 13th of September that Congress was prepared 
to pass a resolution declaring the ratification of the Con- 
stitution, and directing the election of Presidential electors. 

Communication was at that time very slow and uncertain 
between the several States, and as Congress did not fix the 
time for an election until the middle of September, the first 
Wednesday of January, 1789, was deemed the earliest period 
at which an election could be had. Considering the length 
of time required to communicate with the different States, 
and the extreme difficulty in the States communicating with 
their people and Legislatures, it was practically impossible 
to have a Presidential election in which the people of the 
country generally could participate. 

None of the States had made any preparation for an elec- 
tion, and the only practical method for choosing electors was 
by the Legislatures, as the Constitution provided then, as it 
does now, that each State shall appoint Presidential electors 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

" in such manner as its Legislature may direct." Attempts 
were made to hold popular elections in New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, but 
even in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, after elections 
had been held after a fashion, the Legislatures of those 
States finally chose the electors. There were next to no 
votes cast in Pennsylvania,* Maryland, and Virginia, as 
there was no contest, the election of Washington being 
conceded by all ; and whatever votes were cast in the States 
have never found their way into the political statistics of 
the country. Rhode Island and North Carolina had not 
ratified the Constitution and did not choose electors, and 
in New York a bitter contest arose in the Legislature 
between the friends and opponents of the Constitution, 
resulting in a disagreement between the Senate and House 
that was not adjusted in time for the Legislature to choose 
electors. Thus, New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina 
gave no votes for President in the Electoral College of 1789. 

There had been no formal nomination of Washington for 
President and Adams for Vice-President in any part of the 
country. In later Presidential elections it was common for 
Legislatures and mass-meetings to present candidates for 
President, but I cannot find a record of any formal presenta- 
tion of either the name of Washington or Adams as candi- 
dates at the first Presidential election. Washington was 
accepted as the logical ruler of the Republic, whose sword 
had won its independence, and Massachusetts, the State of 
Lexington and Bunker Hill, was conceded the second place 
on the ticket by general assent. Both were pronounced 
Federalists, and Washington was much more positive in 
his partisanship than is now generally believed. He was 
consulted about the choice of a Vice-President, and he 
answered that while he took it for granted that " a true 
Federalist " would be elected to the Vice-Presidency, he 
was unwilling to indicate any preference ; but it was gener- 
ally known that he and his immediate friends preferred 
John Adams, who had been one of the committee with 
Jefferson to prepare the Declaration of Independence, and 
who had written a very vigorous pamphlet in favor of the 
adoption of the Constitution. 

It is now generally assumed that there was no shade of 

*Imperfect returns at Harrisburg show 5930 votes cast in Pennsyl- 
vania for Washington in 1789 and 4576 in 1792. 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



opposition to Washington's election to the Presidency, but 
the anti-Federalists, many of whom were opposed to the 
Constitution, made several ineffectual efforts to defeat him. 
It is known that Franklin was approached on the question 
of being Washington's competitor, but there is little doubt 
that he peremptorily refused. At that time the Presidential 
electors did not vote directly for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent as they do now. Each elector voted for two men for 
President, both of whom could not be a resident of the same 
State, and the candidate receiving the largest vote, if a 
majority, was chosen President, and the candidate receiving 
the second largest vote for President became Vice-President. 
Several movements were made, without ever attaining the 
dignity of importance, to have votes quietly taken from 
Washington and given to Adams, and other movements 
were made to defeat Adams for Vice-President, but all of 
them were signal failures. It is understood that Hamilton, 
the closest friend of Washington, was not friendly to Adams. 
There is some reason to believe that he would have seconded 
the movement of the anti-Federalists to make George Clinton 
Vice-President had it given any promise of success. 

The electoral colleges met on the first Wednesday of Feb- 
ruary, 1789, and elected Washington President, he receiving 
69 votes, being the full number of electors, and John Adams 
received 34 votes for President, which made him Vice- 
President, although he did not receive a majority of the 
electoral votes. The following table shows the vote in detail 
as cast by the Electoral College, all of the men having been 
voted for only as Presidential candidates : 





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G 






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G 
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G 

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6 

be 

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u 
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PI 

G 
g 




u 






G 

O 


a 


G 



PI 


•— > 


O 


u 


a> 

O 


G 

O 


G 
O 


s 
•— > 




G 

PQ 


New Hampshire 


5 


5 






















Massachusetts 


10 

1 


10 
5 


2 




















Connecticut 




New Jersey 


6 


1 





5 


















Pennsylvania 


10 


8 






9i 
















Delaware 


3 




— 


3 




— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 









OUR PRESIDENTS 





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c 






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STATES. 

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2 

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bo 

o 

6 


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s 

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C 

X 
S 


>— > 

C 
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c 
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W 

c 

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t-i 

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6 


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Maryland 




Virginia 


10 
7 
5 


5 


— 


1 


1 

1 




3 


6 


9, 


1 


1 




South Carolina 




Georgia 


1 


Total 


69 


34 


2 


9 


4 


6 


3 


6 


o 


1 


1 


1 







The Congress of the Confederation had provided that the 
new Congress chosen under the Constitution should meet 
in New York on the first Wednesday of March to declare 
the result of the Presidential election and inaugurate the new 
Republic, but a quorum of the Senate did not appear until 
the 6th of April, and on that day the electoral vote was 
counted in the presence of the two Houses, and Washington 
and Adams declared elected. They were notified of their 
election as speedily as possible, but it was not until the 30th 
of April that they were inaugurated. 



Washington's second election was quite as unanimous as 
the first, both at the polls and in the electoral colleges. No 
opposition electoral tickets were formed in any of the States, 
as the re-election of Washington and Adams was universally 
accepted. The Presidential electors of that day were ap- 
pointed in accordance with the obvious spirit of the Consti- 
tution, that meant to provide an entirely dispassionate and 
independent tribunal in the Electoral College to exercise the 
soundest discretion in the choice of a President and Vice- 
President. No pledges were asked or given by any one 
named as an elector, and each one was free to vote accord- 
ing to the dictates of his own judgment. Had there been 
opposition electoral tickets, they would have logically run 
on opposing lines with distinct obligations on the part of 
each side as to how their votes would be cast, but no such 
question arose until the first battle between Adams and 
Jefferson in 1796. 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

There was no organized opposition to the administration 
of Washington at the close of his first term, but the Demo- 
cratic sentiment, so ardently cherished by Jefferson, had 
been steadily growing, and with two such able and aggres- 
sive opposing partisans as Jefferson and Hamilton in the 
Washington Cabinet, it was only natural that opposition to 
the Federal policy would gradually take shape to be effective 
when the overshadowing personality of Washington became 
eliminated from the politics of the country. Jefferson and 
Hamilton often had serious differences in the Cabinet, and 
Washington uniformly sided with Hamilton. Washington 
had little personal and no political sympathy whatever with 
Jefferson, and only one of Jefferson's rare tact and sagac- 
ity could have remained in the Washington Cabinet and 
fashioned the great opposition party that carried him 
triumphantly into the Presidential chair four years after 
Washington's retirement. As opposition to the re-election 
of Washington and Adams would have been entirely fruit- 
less, it was not wisely attempted, and the election passed off 
in almost as perfunctory a manner as did the first election 
in 1789. 

Rhode Island and North Carolina had ratified the Con- 
stitution, and Vermont became a State on the 4th of March, 
1 79 1, and Kentucky on the 1st of June, 1792, giving fifteen 
States to participate in the second Presidential election. In 
nine of the States Presidential electors were chosen by the 
Legislatures, and by popular vote in New Hampshire, Mas- 
sachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, and 
Virginia, but there were very few votes polled, and what 
were cast indicated nothing politically, as there were no op- 
posing electoral tickets. 

Washington again received the unanimous vote in the 
electoral colleges — 132 in number — and Adams became Vice- 
President by receiving yy votes for President. When the 
two Houses met to declare the vote, Vice-President Adams 
presided in the House, opened and read the certificates of 
the votes of the several States, and declared Washington and 
himself elected President and Vice-President. The following 
is the official vote in the electoral colleges as cast in 1792: 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



STATES. 


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New Hampshire 


6 
3 

16 
4 
9 

12 
7 

15 
3 
8 

21 

12 
8 
4 
4 


6 
3 

16 
4 
9 

7 

14 

3 

8 

7 


12 
1 

21 

12 

4 


4 




Vermont 




Massachusetts 




Rhode Island 




Connecticut 




New York 




New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 




Delaware 




Maryland 




Virginia 




North Carolina 




South Carolina 


1 


Georgia 




Kentucky 








Total . . . 


132 


77 


50 


4 


1 







THE ADAMS-JEFFERSON CONTEST 

1796 



While it was generally accepted that Washington would 
not be a candidate for a third term, he gave no definite ex- 
pression on the subject until he issued his farewell address a 
short time before the election of 1796. Washington was an 
extremely reticent man, and it is possible that, in view of the 
serious complications between this country and France, he 
may have anticipated a contingency that would make him 
accept a third election to the Presidency, but it seems to have 
been well understood by those nearest to him in official 
circles that he earnestly desired to retire to private life at the 
expiration of his second term. He was then the richest man 
in the country, his wealth being almost wholly composed 
of land and slaves, and for twenty years he had been unable 
to give any attention to his large business interests. While 
his election and re-election to the Presidency by a unanimous 
vote were very gratifying to him, he greatly preferred the 
life upon his plantation, where he gave most careful attention 
to all the details of its management. 

As early as 1793 it was generally accepted by the public 
that Washington would not be a candidate for re-election, 
and that Jefferson and Adams would be the logical com- 
petitors for the succession. Jefferson had cleared his decks 
for the battle by resigning his office as Secretary of State 
early in 1794. He was not in harmony with the severe Fed- 
eral policy of Washington, and was very positively hostile to 
the policy of the administration in failing to support the 
French Revolution. Jefferson led the Democratic forces of 
the country ; Washington, and Adams as his logical succes- 
sor, led the Federal forces, and between them there was an 
irreconcilable dispute as to the form of government the new 
Republic should assume. Washington, Adams, Hamilton, 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

and their associates did not believe in the capacity of the 
people for self-government. They favored the strongest 
possible government, with checks and balances which could 
effectually restrain what they regarded as positive and dan- 
gerous ebullitions of public sentiment. They would have 
made Senators for life and given only the semblance of gov- 
ernment to the people. Jefferson, on the other hand, took the 
broad ground that the people were sovereign and should rule. 
He logically supported the French Revolution against the 
Bourbon Kings, and cherished the strongest prejudices 
against England. As Secretary of State he could not well 
have remained in the Washington Cabinet the last two years 
of the administration, but he doubtless resigned to be entirely 
free to make his great battle for the Presidency in 1796. 

Neither Jefferson nor Adams was nominated for the Presi- 
dency in 1796 by anv Legislature or mass-meeting of which 
there is any record as far as I have been able to ascertain. 
Adams was the choice of Washington, and the logical suc- 
cessor to Washington as the Federal candidate for President, 
and Jefferson stood head and shoulders over all the Repub- 
licans of that day. The title of Republican was adopted by 
the friends of Jefferson, and the Democratic party was 
founded in 1796 by Jefferson under the name of Republican, 
established as the majority party of the nation four years 
later, and it fought and won the Democratic battles under 
that name until 1824, when the Jackson party changed the 
title to Democracy. 

If the overshadowing individuality of Washington could 
have been eliminated from the contest of 1796. Jefferson 
would have defeated Adams by a decided majority, but 
"Washington was earnestly enlisted in the support of Adams, 
and all the power of the administration was wielded in favor 
of the Federal candidate. While Washington was not 
charged with violent partisanship in his appointments, it is 
none the less true that when the issue came between Adams 
and Jefferson, every Federal official of the country felt bound 
to support, with all the power he possessed, the candidate 
preferred by Washington. Had Grover Cleveland lived in 
that day, he would have had ample opportunity to denounce 
the " pernicious activity" of office-holders with as much 
reason as he denounced them a century later in his support of 
civil service reform. 

Not only were the Federal officials aggressively enlisted 

8 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

in favor of Adams, but the personal influence of Washington, 
that was greater than that ever wielded by any other official 
or citizen of the Republic down to the present time, was a 
serious obstacle to Jefferson's success. The people loved 
Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, 
and a large majority of them sympathized with his liberal 
ideas of popular government, but the name of Washington 
was sacred to a large majority, and his wishes were para- 
mount in deciding their political action. Such were the con- 
ditions under which Jefferson entered the contest against 
Adams in 1796. 

In this contest, for the first time, there were two candidates 
distinctly declared as competitors for the Presidency, and 
other candidates as distinctly declared as competitors for 
Vice-President, although all had to be voted for as candi- 
dates for President in the Electoral College. At that time 
Aaron Burr was in the zenith of his power. He was one of 
the most astute politicians of that day, inordinately am- 
bitious, unscrupulous in his methods, and he was generally 
accepted by the friends of Jefferson as the candidate for 
Vice-President. 

New York was a Federal State, but it was hoped that by 
the masterly ability of Burr the electoral vote of New York 
might be won for Jefferson, although while there was entire 
unanimity among the Republicans in support of Jefferson, 
there was not equal unanimity in the support of Burr. He 
failed to carry New York for Jefferson, but succeeded in 
carrying it for Jefferson and himself in 1800, and his victory 
was won so early in the contest by the election of a Repub- 
lican Legislature in that State in May, 1800, that he prac- 
tically decided the battle against Adams. 

The Presidential contest between Jefferson and Adams 
developed into the most defamatory campaign ever known in 
the history of American politics, unless the second campaign 
of 1800 between the same leaders may be accepted as equal- 
ling it. In no modern national campaign have candidates 
and parties been so maliciously defamed as were candidates 
and parties when Jefferson and Adams fought for power in 
the contest of the Fathers of the Republic. Jefferson was 
denounced as an unscrupulous demagogue, and Adams was 
denounceS as a kingly despot without sympathy with the 
people, and opposed to every principle of popular govern- 
ment. 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



There were few newspapers, but it was the age of the pam- 
phleteer, and the political pamphlets of those days, if com- 
pared with the political asperities of the present age, would 
make the partisan vituperation of the evening of the nine- 
teenth century appear as tame and feeble. Nor were political 
leaders of that day any less unscrupulous than are the political 
leaders of the present. The struggles of mean ambition were 
as common then as now, and political leaders jostled each other 
in the most vituperative assaults to give victory to their cause. 

The contest ended in November, when the elections were 
held in the various States. Tennessee had been admitted to 
the Union on the 1st of June, 1796, making sixteen States 
to participate in the choice of a President. Of these, six 
States held some form of popular elections, while ten chose 
their electors by the Legislature. The popular vote cast at 
these elections had no material significance. There was but 
one ticket voted for in nearly or quite all of the six States 
which assumed to choose electors by popular vote, as the New 
England States were solid for Adams, and the Southern 
States, where elections were held, were strong in the support 
of Jefferson. The result was the election of Adams in the 
Electoral College by a vote of 71 to 68 for Jefferson, who 
thereby became Vice-President. The following is the vote in 
detail, as cast in the Electoral College, the electors voting 
only for President : 





























u 




(0 


> 

c 


u 

w 


> 


to 
to 


C 

c 

c 




> 
fe 







a] 

> 

C 
O 
-t-> 


6 
5 








- 










A 








60 




•0 


^ 


STATES. 


of 

S 

■0 

< 

c 


09 
U 

m 


c 



c 




to 

s 

03 


u 

O 

to 



c 




c 

ca" 


to 

C 






c 

E 




to 

a 

E 



to 

B 





03 


< 

S 
c3 


H 

u 

> 


O 

bo 
u 


0) 


•—1 

e 
.a 


u 
1— ( 
to 

s 


bo 

Li 

O 


S 

OS 


c 




to 

2i 

3 




6 


H 


H 


< 


'Jl 



6 





•— > 


►-> 


O 


Cfi 


—1 





New Hampshire .... 





Vermont 


4. 
16 


— 


4 
13 






1 


_ 


_ 


_ 





2 


_ 




Massachusetts 


— 




4 


— 


— 


— 


— 


4 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 




— 







— 


4 










5 












New York 


12 

7 


— 


12 

7 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 


1 


14 


2 


13 




















Delaware 


3 


— 


3 































IO 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 







<rt* 


d 






d 

g 








> 


d 




d 
to' 




CO 
CO 


> 


to 


f* 


CO 

s! 


O 
O 


!* 
B 




d 


fi" 

O 

-4-> 


fc 




CO 

fi 




c3 


o 


CO 






43 








to 


fi 


*o 


44 


STATES. 


3 

co* 


co 
In 

co 

it! 
co 


fi 
44 
o 
fi 


u 
u 


CO 

a 


u 

o 

CO 


fi 

o 

fi 


J* 


fi 

!S 

CO 


o 

+-> 

CO 

fi 

43 


3 


o 

fi 




-a 

fi 

43 
O 
►-> 

7 


•— > 
co 

S 
o 

H 

4 


to 
cS 

a 

o 

43 
H 

4 


p 

« 

fi 
o 

c3 

< 

8 


"3 

S 
to 


CO 

> 
O 


O 
co 
bo 
u 

o 

CD 




•— ) 
C 

43 
O 

•— > 


(— 1 
CO 

CO 

a 

ct) 
•— > 


CO 

bo 
(-, 

o 

(0 


t— i 

"co 

fi 

a 

«s 

CO 


fi 

CO 

c 

43 
O 
•— » 

2 


o 

CO 

co 

*£ 
oj 
43 
O 


Maryland 




Virginia 


1 


20 


1 


1 


15 




R 






1 








North Carolina 


1 


11 


1 


6 









— 


3 


1 


— 





1 


South Carolina 


— 


8 


8 






















Georgia 


— 


4 
4 


— 


4 


— 


— 


4 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 





Kentucky 


_ 


Tennessee 


— 


3 


— 


3 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


Total 


71 


68 


59 


30 


15 


11 


7 


5 


3 


2 


2 


2 


1 







It will be seen by the foregoing table that Pennsylvania,* 
Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina cast divided elec- 
toral votes for the Presidency between Jefferson and Adams. 
In Pennsylvania, Adams received I electoral vote to 14 for 
Jefferson. In Maryland, Adams received 7 to 4 for Jeffer- 
son. In Virginia, Jefferson's own State, Adams received 1 
to 20 for Jefferson, and in North Carolina the vote was 1 for 
Adams to 11 for Jefferson. In all of these States the electors 
were chosen by popular vote, and they were doubtless 
selected with reference to their character and intelligence 
without pledges as to how they should cast their ballots in the 
electoral colleges. One of the Virginia electors exercised his 
admitted right to vote against Jefferson, who had the largest 
popular following in the State. It was this independent ac- 
tion of a few electors in 1796 that made both parties draw 
their lines severely in the selection of the candidates for 
electors, and from that time until the present all electoral 
tickets have been made up of men who were accepted as 
solemnly pledged to vote for their party candidates in the 
Electoral College. 

*The popular vote, as imperfectly preserved at Harrisburg, gives 
Adams 11,552 and Jefferson 8373, but as 14 of the 15 electors voted 
for Jefferson the vote of record is incomplete and misleading. 

II 



THE JEFFERSON-ADAMS-BURR 
CONTEST 

i 800-1 



The Presidential contest of 1800 was as revolutionary in 
its aim and in its accomplishment as was the Republican 
revolution of i860. The Federalists had practically undis- 
puted control of the Government for twelve years, under 
Washington and John Adams, and the power of the Federal 
party, with the overwhelming" individuality of Washing- 
ton in its favor, accomplished the election of Adams over 
Jefferson in 1796. When the battle of 1800 opened, Wash- 
ington was dead, and Hamilton, one of the ablest of the 
Washington political lieutenants, was not in hearty sympathy 
with Adams. 

The Federalists held both branches of Congress, and a 
tidal wave of partisan bitterness and personal defamation 
ran riot, both in Congress and throughout the country. Our 
foreign complications with France had become very serious, 
and Congress approved what was then regarded as very 
extensive preparations for a war that was bitterly opposed 
by the Republican minority, the followers of Jefferson. So 
violent were the political discussions of the country that 
Adams, acting in accord with the Federal theory of a strong 
suppressive government, demanded and secured the passage 
of what are known as the Alien and Sedition laws, which 
now rank among the most odious legislative acts in the 
history of the Republic. 

While the Alien and Sedition laws were apparently aimed 
at those who were open enemies of the country in war, they 
were, in fact, intended to suppress criticism of the adminis- 
tration and to impose the severest penalties for open hostility 
to its policy. The first session of the Congress of 1797-98 

12 




JOHN ADAMS 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

lasted eight months, and even in the fierce passions of civil 
war the Congressional debates did not equal the asperities 
of the Congressional debates of a century ago. The first 
Alien law lengthened the period for naturalization to fourteen 
years, and all emigrants were required to be registered and 
the certificate of registration to be the only proof of resi- 
dence. All alien enemies were forbidden the right of citizen- 
ship under any circumstances. 

Another of the series gave the President the power in 
case of war to seize or expel all resident aliens of the nation 
at war with us, and yet another gave the President power 
to deport any alien whom he might think dangerous to the 
country, and if after being ordered away he remained in 
the country, he was subject to imprisonment for three years 
and forbidden citizenship. In addition to these provisions, 
aliens so imprisoned could be removed from the country by 
the President's order. Such were the general provisions of 
the Alien law. The Sedition bill, that was part of the same 
policy, declared that any who hindered officers in the dis- 
charge of their duties or opposed any of the laws of the 
country were gailty of high crime and misdemeanor, punish- 
able by fine and imprisonment. Those who were guilty of 
writing or publishing any false and malicious writings against 
Congress or the President, or aided therein, were made pun- 
ishable by a fine of $2000 and imprisonment for two years. 

These measures were in harmony with the Federal theory 
of government. The Federal leaders did not believe the 
people capable of self-government, and Adams felt justified 
in imposing the severest penalties upon all who severely 
criticised or violently opposed the administration. Washing- 
ton was yet alive and in full mental and physical vigor when 
these laws were passed, and it is reasonable to assume that 
he approved of them, as he could have defeated them if he 
had opposed their enactment. Hamilton vainly protested 
against the Alien and Sedition laws as a fatal political 
blunder, but Federalism had never suffered defeat, and 
President Adams never doubted his re-election until the 
vote was declared against him. 

The contest of 1800 had its lines so well defined from the 
outset that candidates for President and Vice-President 
were as clearly indicated, although without any formal 
declaration, as national tickets would be indicated by a 
national convention of modern times. There is no record 

13 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

of the Congressional caucus in 1800, but it seems to be an 
accepted tradition that the Federals, who had a majority of 
the House, first called a secret caucus to confer about the 
management of the campaign. They did not formally name 
candidates, but by general consent Adams was accepted as 
the candidate for President and Charles C. Pinckney, of 
South Carolina, for Vice-President. Apparently well- 
authenticated reports tell of a Republican Congressional 
caucus held during the same year, but there is no preserved 
record of it. If such a caucus was held, candidates were 
not nominated nor was any declaration of principles made. 
The chief object of the Republican caucus seems to have 
been to harmonize the friends of Jefferson on Burr as the 
accepted candidate for Vice-President, but no preference 
was expressed in any formal way. When the Federalists 
held their first caucus the Republicans denounced it as a 
" Jacobinical conclave," and so severe were the criticisms 
of the Philadelphia Aurora, the leading Jefferson organ, 
that its editor was at one time arraigned before the bar of 
the Senate. 

The contest of 1800 opened early in the year, the reported 
Congressional caucuses having been held in February or 
March, and from that time until the election the political 
discussions were acrimonious to a degree that would surprise 
the present generation. Jefferson had cordially united his 
friends in the support of Burr, and it was Burr's magnificent 
leadership that carried the electoral vote of New York by 
winning the Legislature of that State as early as May. New 
York had voted for Adams in 1796, and the loss to Adams 
of one of the leading States of the Union and its transfer to 
Jefferson made the battle next to hopeless for Adams, but 
he and his friends fought it out to the bitter end. 

No new States had been admitted during the Adams 
administration, and the same sixteen States w T hich had elected 
Adams over Jefferson were then to pass a second judgment 
upon the great leaders of the two opposing political theories 
of that day. In Pennsylvania the Federalists controlled the 
Senate chiefly by hold-over Senators, as the popular senti- 
ment of the State was strongly for Jefferson. In the three 
previous elections for President the Pennsylvania Legisla- 
ture had passed special acts authorizing a popular vote for 
President, but in 1800, the Federals having control of the 
Senate, refused to pass a bill for an election whereby the 

14 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



choice of electors was thrown into the Legislature, and it 
required joint action of the Federal Senate and the largely 
Republican House to provide for a choice of electors even 
by the Legislature. The Federal Senators refused to go 
into joint convention except upon conditions which would 
divide the electoral vote, and the Republicans of the House 
were compelled to choose between disfranchising the State, 
as New York had been disfranchised in 1789, or to concede 
a large minority of the electors to Adams. 

It was finally agreed that each House should nominate 
8 electors, and that the Houses should then meet jointly and 
each member should vote together for 15 of the 16 thus 
nominated. The result was that the Federalists forced the 
election of 7 Adams electors with 8 for Jefferson. The 
Federal Senators, 13 in number, who controlled the Senate 
against the 11 Republicans, were heralded by their party 
papers and leaders as grand heroes, because by the accident 
of power in one body of the Legislature not immediately 
chosen by the people they had wrested 7 electors from 
Jefferson, which would have been given to him either by a 
popular vote or by a joint vote of the Legislature. 

Rhode Island at this election for the first time chose 
electors by popular vote, making 6 States which chose elec- 
tors by the vote of the people and 10 which chose electors 
by the Legislature. As the electoral colleges could vote 
only for candidates for President, Jefferson and Burr re- 
ceived precisely the same vote, 73 in number, and Adams 
received 65, with 64 for Pinckney and 1 for John Jay. The 
following is the table of the vote as cast in the electoral col- 
leges : 





S3 












> 




■Ji 


d 






O 


> 


t/3 
Cfl 


tn 






•Ji 

u 


z 


3 




>; 


STATES. 





u 


cfl 




fe 




•— > 


3 


cfl 





- 




'Ji 


M 


-d 


a 


>> 




Sj 

s 




c 


< 


(X 


■—» 






u 

a 

< 


C 
A 

O 


Q 

O 



>— 1 


New Hampshire 






6 


6 




Vermont 


— 


— 


4 
16 

4 


4 

16 

3 


_ 


Massachusetts 





Rhode Island 


1 







15 



OUR PRESIDENTS 





j 












> 






o 










03 








c 
o 


> 


03 

OS 


Xfl 






03 
U 


fc 


JH 


o 


> 


STATES. 


4> 


u 


03 

B 


c 


£ 




t—i 

03 


s 
K 


t3 


c 


;£ 




6 

o 


c 


< 


fu 


►— . 




o 
< 


O 




c 

o 










9 


9 





New York 


12 


12 


17 
f 


17 




New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 


8 


8 


i 


7 




Delaware 


5 


5 


3 
5 


3 

5 




Maryland * 




Virginia 


21 


21 








North Carolina 


8 
8 
4 


8 
8 
4 


4 


4 




South Carolina 




Georgia 




Kentucky 


4 


4 








Tennessee 


3 


3 


65 


64 










73 


73 


1 



* One Marj^land elector did not attend. 

It is impossible to give anything like an intelligent pres- 
entation of the popular vote between Jefferson and Adams. 
In most of the States which chose electors by popular vote 
there was practically no contest, as the New England States 
voted solidly for Adams, and the Southern States south of 
Maryland voted as solidly for Jefferson, with the exception 
of North Carolina, where an electoral ticket seems to have 
been chosen on the original theory that electors should 
exercise sound discretion in the choice of a President, and 
in the exercise of that discretion 4 of the North Carolina 
electors voted for Adams and 8 for Jefferson. Had Penn- 
sylvania been permitted to give expression either to the 
popular will or to the decided Republican majority of the 
Legislature, 7 of the Pennsylvania votes would have been 
taken from Adams and added to Jefferson, which would 
have made him 80 electoral votes to 58 for Adams. 

Jefferson had won his election, and there should have been 
no question about according it to him. Under the electoral 
system of that day, by which each elector voted for two 
candidates for President, Jefferson and Burr each received 
72> votes for the Presidency, and upon the face of the returns 

16 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

were equally entitled to claim the highest honor of the 
Republic. True, Burr had not been discussed or seriously 
thought of as a candidate for President. He was accepted 
by the Republicans distinctly as the candidate for Vice- 
President, and the whole battle was fought out on the issue 
between Jefferson and Adams. Had Burr been honest and 
manly, he would have ended the struggle at once by declar- 
ing that the people had elected Jefferson to the Presidency, 
and that Burr could not consent to be presented to the 
country and the world as seeking to wear the stolen honors 
of the Government ; but Burr developed his true character 
as soon as he discovered that his vote was equal to that 
given to Jefferson. While he did not make any open or 
visible effort to elect himself over Jefferson, he silently 
assented to the use of his name, and thus made the Presi- 
dency hang in uncertainty from the time of the election in 
November until the 17th of February, when the contest was 
finally decided in favor of Jefferson, and Burr stamped with 
infamy. That he wished to be elected over Jefferson cannot 
be reasonably doubted. If he had not permitted the use of 
his name without protest as a candidate against Jefferson, 
there would have been no discussion and no uncertainty, as 
the House would have chosen Jefferson on the 1st ballot. 

Jefferson could have accomplished his own election with- 
out a serious contest if he had accepted the proposition of 
the Federalists to give him the election, to which he was 
entitled by the vote of the people, if he would agree not to 
remove the Federalists who then filled all the offices of the 
Government. Under Washington and Adams, the Repub- 
licans were practically proscribed in national appointments, 
and Adams had been specially proscriptive in dispensing 
the patronage of his administration. One of the most dis- 
creditable acts of his administration was the creation, by 
his Federal Congress in the expiring hours of Federal rule, 
of a number of judges, to whom commissions were issued 
by Adams at midnight before his retirement from office. 
They were known in political discussions of that day as the 
" midnight judges," and the measure was so odious that 
it speedily destroyed itself. Jefferson, while not specially 
proscriptive in political appointments, regarded it as incon- 
sistent with his appreciation of executive duties to give any 
pledge to the opposition to retain their friends in office. 
They naturally assumed that Jefferson would be as proscrip- 

l 7 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



tive as Adams had been, and that their only safety was in 
making terms with Jefferson, whose election they could 
accomplish without difficulty. 

It is quite probable that they could have made such terms 
with Burr, and it is possible that such conditions were pro- 
posed and accepted, but the Federalists knew that the defeat 
of Jefferson would be a monstrous perversion of the popular 
will; and Hamilton and Bayard, of Delaware, and other 
prominent Federalists earnestly opposed all affiliation with 
Burr. Burr having failed to announce that Jefferson had 
been elected President by the people, and should be elected 
by the House, and Jefferson having refused to make terms 
with the Federalists, the election went into the House under 
rules which had been adopted by Congress to meet the 
special case. Under the rules, the House was required to 
retire to its own chamber after the announcement of the 
electoral vote showing no choice, and proceed to ballot for 
President, and to continue to ballot without adjournment 
until a choice was effected. That session of the House con- 
tinued for seven days. The balloting began on the nth of 
February and ended on the 17th, as the House, instead of 
adjourning, simply took recesses from time to time. Each 
State could cast but one vote in the House, and that vote 
was determined by a majority of the delegation. Where the 
delegation was evenly divided the State had no vote. The 
following is the vote of the States en the 1st ballot, Febru- 
ary n, 1801 : 



STATES. 



Jefferson. 


Burr. 


_ 


4 


1 


1 


3 


11 


— 


2 


— 


7 


6 


4 


3 


2 


9 


4 


— 


1 


4 


4 


16 


3 


9 


1 


— 


5 


1 


— 


9 








1 


— 


55 


49 



State voted for. 



New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . 
Rhode Island. . . 
Connecticut . . . . 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania. . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

North Carolina. 
South Carolina. 

Georgia 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Total 



Burr. 

Divided — Blank. 

Burr. 

Burr. 

Burr. 

Jefferson. 

Jefferson. 

Jefferson. 

Burr. 

Divided — Blank. 

Jefferson. 

Jefferson. 

Burr. 

Jefferson. 

Jefferson. 

Jefferson. 



18 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Nineteen ballots were taken on the same clay, then a 
recess was taken until the 12th, when 9 additional ballots 
were taken, and 1 ballot was taken on the 13th, 4 on the 
14th, 1 on the 16th (the 15th being Sunday), and 1 on the 
17th, making an aggregate of 35 ballots, all of which were 
precisely a repetition of the 1st ballot given in the foregoing 
table. Jefferson received the vote of 8 States, Burr of 6, 
and 2 were blank, because of divided delegations. The vote 
of 9 States was necessary to an election, and there was no 
choice. 

On the 2d ballot cast on the 17th, being the 36th ballot 
in all, Jefferson was successful, receiving the votes of 10 
States to 4 for Burr and 2 blank. The changes in favor 
of Jefferson were made by one Vermont member declining 
to vote, thus allowing his colleague to cast the vote of the 
State for President, and by four from Maryland also declin- 
ing to vote, by which the tie in that State was broken in 
Jefferson's favor. 

In addition to these changes South Carolina and Delaware 
cast blank votes, but they did not help Jefferson, as he 
required the positive vote of 9 States to accomplish his 
election. It was James A. Bayard, of Delaware, a leading 
Federalist, who changed his vote on the last ballot from 
a vote for Burr to a blank ballot. Jefferson was thus de- 
clared elected President, and Burr became Vice-President 
by the mandate of the Constitution, he having received the 
highest electoral vote for President excepting that cast for 
Jefferson. 

It can be readily understood that Burr's permission of 
the use of his name to defeat the election of Jefferson in the 
House made an impassable gulf between them, and that 
contest dated the decline of Burr's power in the land. He 
knew that there could be no future for him, and his restless 
genius sought new fields in which to gratify his ambition, 
ending in his arrest and trial for treason, and also staining 
his skirts with the murder of Hamilton. Hamilton was 
open in his hostility to Burr in the contest between Jefferson 
and Burr in the House, and it was Burr's resentment of 
Hamilton's hostility to his election that made him seize upon 
a trivial pretext to force Hamilton into a duel, in which 
Hamilton fell mortally wounded at the first fire. Burr's 
public career was thus ended by the Jefferson-Burr contest, 
and although he lived many years thereafter, he drank the 

19 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

bitterest dregs of sorrow, and died in poverty and un- 
lamented. 

Adams accepted his defeat most ungracefully. He re- 
mained in the Executive Mansion until midnight of the 3d 
of March, 1801, when he and his family deserted it, leaving 
it vacant for Jefferson to enter, without a host to welcome 
him. It was the only instance in which the retiring President 
did not personally receive the incoming President in the 
Executive Mansion, with the single exception of President 
Johnson, who did not remain at the White House to receive 
Grant : but Johnson was excusable from the fact that Grant 
had expressed his purpose not to permit Johnson to accom- 
pany him in the inauguration ceremonies. Jefferson, in 
marked contrast with the pomp and ceremony of Federal 
inaugurations, appeared on the 4th of March clad in home- 
spun, and rode his own horse unattended to the Capitol, and 
after the inauguration ceremonies returned to the Executive 
Mansion in like manner. Both Jefferson and Adams lived 
for more than a quarter of a century after their great battle 
terminated in 1800, and time greatly mellowed the asperities 
of their desperate political conflicts. In the later years of 
their life, when both had lived long in retirement, they had 
friendly correspondence ; and it is one of the most notable 
events in our political annals that Jefferson and Adams, who 
stood side by side in presenting the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence to Congress, and who had fought the fiercest political 
battles of the nation as opposing leaders, both died on the 
same day — the natal day of the Republic — July 4, 1826. 




THOMAS JEFFERSON 



THE JEFFERSON-PINCKNEY CONTEST 

1804 



The election of Jefferson in 1800 was a complete revolu- 
tion in the political policy of the new Republic, and it main- 
tained its supremacy for sixty years. The Republican party 
that triumphed with Jefferson never suffered a defeat until 
after the name of the party had been changed to Democracy 
under Jackson. John Quincy Adams, who was elected Presi- 
dent in 1824, was nominated and supported as a Republican, 
as were Jackson, Crawford, and Clay, and the Whig tri- 
umphs of 1840 and 1848 stand in our history as accidental 
victories without changing the general policy of the Govern- 
ment in any material respect. It may be accepted as a fact 
that from 1800 until 1900, the full period of a century, there 
have been but two political policies established and main- 
tained in the government of this country. The Democratic 
policy ruled from 1800 to i860, and from i860 to 1900 the 
Republican policy has maintained its supremacy, notwith- 
standing the two Democratic administrations of Cleveland. 
They were but temporary checks upon Republican mastery, 
as the Whig successes of 1840 and 1848 were mere tem- 
porary checks upon Democratic rule. 

With Jefferson's success in 1800 came, for the first time, 
the control of the Republicans in both branches of Congress, 
and Jefferson thus had the entire legislative power of the 
Government in thorough sympathy and harmony with him- 
self. He was bitterly opposed by the Federalists at every 
step. They justly criticised his hostility to an American 
navy ; they complained vehemently of his removals from 
office in partisan interests, and they specially assailed his 
ostentatious attempts to limit the authority and powers of the 
General Government to give the supreme sovereignty of the 
nation to the people. 

21, 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

The one act of his administration that was most violently 
assailed was his purchase of Louisiana in 1803. It was 
proclaimed by the Federalists as the most flagrant usurpa- 
tion of authority, as an utter overthrow of the Constitution, 
and as the beginning of the end of the Union. There is not 
an argument made to-day against the acquisition of the Phil- 
ippines and Puerto Rico that is not the echo of the earnest 
arguments made by the Federalists against the acquisition of 
Louisiana. The ablest of the Federalists proclaimed in the 
Senate and House that the Union was practically destroyed 
by the acquisition of a distant country, containing a people 
with no sympathy with our interests or institutions ; who 
were generally strangers to our language and could never be 
educated to the proper standard of American citizenship. 
But the country then, as now, believed in expansion, and the 
acquisition of Louisiana stands out as one of the grandest 
achievements of statesmanship exhibited by any administra- 
tion, from Washington to McKinley. 

The contest between Jefferson and Burr for the Presi 7 
dency, after one had been distinctly supported as a candidate 
for President and the other as distinctly as a candidate for 
Vice-President, taught the necessity of changing the method 
of choosing a President in the Electoral College, but the 
Federalists bitterly opposed the change, chiefly on the 
ground that it was desired solely to gratify the personal 
ambition and interests of Jefferson. The proposed amend- 
ment prevailed, however, and was ratified by thirteen of the 
sixteen States in ample time for the contest of 1804. The 
dissenting States in the ratification of the amendment were 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware. Under that 
amendment the electors voted for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent as they do to-day, and the candidate for Vice-President 
must now have a majority of the electoral vote as well as 
the candidate for President to be successful. 

The Congressional caucus that made Presidents for many 
years became an accepted institution in 1804, when the Re- 
publican or Jeffersonian members of Congress were publicly 
invited to meet on the 25th of February. They unanimously 
nominated Mr. Jefferson for re-election, and as Burr was 
unthought of for Vice-President, they nominated George 
Clinton, of New York, for that office. This was the first 
open political caucus or convention to nominate national can- 
didates. The caucuses of 1800 were held in secret by both 

22 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

the Federalists and Republicans, and no record was pre- 
served of their actions. Those who called the caucus, appre- 
ciating the prejudice that would likely be provoked by Con- 
gress attempting to dictate the candidates for President and 
Vice-President, distinctly declared that the caucus or con- 
ference was called solely as individuals, and not as official 
representatives of the Senate and House. If the Federalists 
held a caucus in 1804, there is no record of it that I have been 
able to find, but they united on Charles C. Pinckney, of South 
Carolina, for President, and Rufus King, of New York, for 
Vice-President. Both of the parties gave the second place 
on their respective tickets to New York, clearly indicating 
that they regarded New York as one of the pivotal States of 
the conflict. 

Ohio had been admitted into the Union in 1802, making 
17 States to take part in the election of 1804, and the new 
apportionment, shaped by the census of 1800, enlarged the 
number of electoral votes. While the Federalists had greatly 
diminished in popular strength by the loss of power and the 
steadily gaining approval of Jefferson and his Republican 
policy, they did not abate in any degree the intensity of their 
hostility to Jefferson, and in a few States where contests were 
made, the campaigns were conducted on the old defamatory 
lines which marked the two great battles between Jefferson 
and Adams. 

In most of the States there was practically no contest, but 
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where Federalism had 
always maintained its supremacy, the Federalists fought 
with an earnestness and desperation such as might have been 
expected in a hopeful struggle. The fiercest battle was 
fought in Massachusetts, where for the first time the Repub- 
licans defeated the Federalists in the largest vote ever cast 
in the State. Jefferson electors received 29,310 votes to 25,- 
yyy for the Pinckney ticket, giving Jefferson a majority of 
3533. This was a terrible blow to Adams, and it was aggra- 
vated by the fact that while Massachusetts faltered, Con- 
necticut gave her electoral vote to the Federal ticket. Dela- 
ware, with her three electoral votes, was the only other State 
that maintained her devotion to the Federal cause, and the 
electoral votes of those 2 States, with 2 added from the 11 
votes of Maryland, summed up the entire vote of the Federal 
candidate for President in the Electoral College, the vote 
being 162 for Jefferson to 14 for Pinckney, and a like vote 

23 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



for Clinton and King for Vice-President, 
table presents the official vote cast in the elec 



Tl-i^ IrXl 



~ — — 



- 











-~ T r.: ~ /- 


■ . . ^~ 






-.-.i_-:': z:~- 




- 










: 


- 








a. 


- 


- 




STATES. 


- 
- 


c 


: 






te 


- 


-- 


=i 




B 
— 

a. 


_ 


Z 


- 




- 

E 


- 


- 


a. 

5 




: 


a 


: 


— 




$z 


- 


. 


- 




~ 


_ 


3 


- 


New Hampshire 


_ 


_ 


Vermont 


6 - 


; 


Massachusetts 


19 





' i 


Rhode Island 


A 


— 





Connecticut . 


— 


r 


_ 1 


Ne~w York 


19 

8 


— 






New Terser 


— 


Pennsylvania 


20 


-: 


•:••: 




Delaware .... 


: 


Maryland 


r 


- 


9 


. 


Virginia 


24 


— 


M 


— 


North Carolina 


14 


— 


14 


— 


South Carolina 

Georgia 


10 


— 


:■: 


— 


6 


— 


-: 


— 


Kentucky 


8 





- 





Tennessee 


r 





r 




Ohio 


3 


— 


3 


— 


Total 


: -•: 


14 


:-:: 


14 




JAMES MADISON 



THE MADISON-PINCKNEY-CLINTON 

CONTESTS 

1808-12 



The election of Jefferson ended the line of the succession 
to the Presidency from the Vice-Presidency. Adams as 
Vice-President succeeded Washington as President, and 
Jefferson as Vice-President succeeded Adams, but the Burr 
fiasco made it impossible for the succession to be maintained, 
and for many years the line of succession to the Presidency 
was in the Premiers of the administration. Indeed during 
the entire century from 1800 to 1900 but one Vice-President 
has been elected to the Presidency. That single exception 
was Martin Van Buren, and he started under the Jackson 
administration as Premier. Madison, who was Secretary 
of State under Jefferson, succeeded Jefferson to the Presi- 
dency; Monroe, Secretary of State under Madison, suc- 
ceeded Madison as President ; John Quincy Adams, Secre- 
tary of State under Monroe, succeeded Monroe as President, 
and since that time Buchanan was the only Secretary of State 
who reached the Presidency, although Webster, Cass and 
Blaine, who were Premiers under several administrations, 
were defeated in Presidential contests. 

Madison was generally regarded as the favorite of Jeffer- 
son for the succession, and Jefferson's power at that time 
was second only to the power of Washington in dictating 
who should succeed him to the highest honor of the Repub- 
lic. Irritating opposition to Madison came from his own 
State of Virginia, where the friends of Monroe were quite 
aggressive. Two caucuses had been held in the Virginia 
Legislature, one by the friends of Madison, and the other, 
much smaller in number, by the friends of Monroe, and both 
were thus formally presented to the country to succeed Jef- 
ferson. 

A caucus of the Republican members of both branches of 

25 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Congress was called to meet on the 23d of January, 1808. It 
was known that the friends of Madison largely outnum- 
bered the friends of Monroe in Congress, and the active 
supporters of Monroe earnestly opposed a nomination by the 
Congressional caucus. The caucus was held, however, and 
was attended by a majority of the Senators and Represen- 
tatives, and Madison was nominated on the 1st ballot, re- 
ceiving 83 votes to 3 for Monroe and 3 for George Clinton. 
Monroe had a considerably larger strength in Congress, but 
the result was predetermined, and a number of them did not 
participate. George Clinton was nominated by substantially 
the same vote for Vice-President. The caucus system was 
under fire, and the caucus, in justification of its own act, 
adopted a resolution declaring that in making the nomina- 
tions the members had " acted only in their individual char- 
acters as citizens," and because it was " the most practical 
mode of consulting and respecting the interests and wishes 
of all upon a subject so truly interesting to the people of the 
United States." 

It was a considerable time before the friends of Monroe 
gave a cordial adhesion to the caucus nominations, but Jef- 
ferson, who was friendly to both Madison and Monroe, in- 
terposed and reconciled the friends of Monroe by the ex- 
pectation that Monroe would succeed Madison ; and as there 
was practically no serious opposition to Madison presented 
by the Federalists, the campaign drifted into the general ac- 
ceptance of Madison's election long before the election was 
held. The Federalists did not hold any caucus or formally 
present candidates, but accepted Pinckney and King, for 
whom they had voted in the last contest against Jefferson. 

In the New England States vigorous contests were made 
by the Federalists to regain the supremacy they had lost, and 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which 
had voted for Jefferson, were regained by the Federalists, 
but the struggle was not made with any hope of defeating 
Madison for President. There had been no increase in the 
number of States nor in the vote of the electoral colleges. 
Madison won an easy and decisive victory, receiving 122 
electoral votes to 47 for Pinckney and 6 for George Clinton, 
who was the regular nominee of the Republicans for Vice- 
President, and who was elected to that office by 113 electoral 
votes to 47 for King and 15 scattering. New York was o 
viously disaffected, as while the Republican caucus had a 

26 



>- 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



corded to Clinton of that State the second place on the ticket, 
and elected him Vice-President, the electoral vote of New 
York was divided, Madison receiving 13 to 6 cast for Clin- 
ton, and in the same electoral college Clinton received 13 
votes for Vice-President to 3 for Madison and 3 for Monroe. 
The votes of North Carolina and Maryland were also 
divided, but that was not unusual, as after Washington re- 
tired the electoral votes of those States were divided, because 
their electors were chosen by Congressional districts. 

There is no intelligent record of the popular vote, and it 
would be needless to attempt to present it, as outside of New 
England the States which were contested generally chose 
their electors by the Legislature. The following is the vote 
in detail as cast in the Electoral College : 





President. 


Vice-President. 




c3 


>i 





!* 


c« 


ffi 








> 


fc 


03 


B 


> 


525 


a! 
> 


>j 


STATES. 


O 





>, 





c 




8 


O 


£ 






+j 

















■ti 
a 

3 


6 




a 






•a 

bO 

c 

c3 


u 

a 




bo 




w 


bO 


& 


bo 


05 


J 


Cfi 


tfl 




a 

ea 
1—1 


O 




u 


O 


a 

»— . 



•— > 


B 


3 
04 


New Hampshire 






7 










7 


Vermont 


6 

13 

8 


6 


19 
4 
9 


13 

8 


3 


6 


3 




Massachusetts 


19 


Rhode Island 


4 


Connecticut 


9 


New York 




New Tersey 




Pennsylvania 


20 






20 










Delaware 


9 


— 


3 
2 


9 


— 


— 


— 


8 


Maryland 


2 


Virginia 


24 

11 

10 

6 


— 


3 


24 

11 

10 

6 


— 


— 


— 




North Carolina 


3 


South Carolina 






— 


Kentucky * 


7 


- 




7 














Tennessee 


5 
3 


— 


— 


5 


— 


3 


— 




Ohio 










122 


6 


47 


113 


3 


9 


3 


47 



* One Kentucky elector did not attend. The State was entitled to 8 votes. 



27 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

The battle for Madison's second election in 1812 began 
in the early period of our second war with Great Britain. 
Many complicated foreign questions excited earnest discus- 
sion and renewed the partisan bitterness of the earlier na- 
tional contests, while the struggle for the renewal of the 
charter of the United States bank convulsed financial and 
business circles. The bill was lost by indefinite postpone- 
ment in the House in 181 1 by a single vote, and soon there- 
after a like bill was rejected in the Senate by the casting vote 
of the Vice-President. Madison did not possess the breadth 
of statesmanship so grandly exhibited by Jefferson, and he 
lacked in the positive qualities needed to meet the grave 
issues which confronted him. He parried our foreign ques- 
tions with almost endless diplomatic correspondence, and in 
the conduct of the war he lacked in the settled purpose and 
methods which are always necessary to sustain a government 
in such a crisis. 

It was then that Clay came to the front as Commoner of 
the nation, and it was his able, eloquent, and inspiring utter- 
ances and actions, aided by Senator Crawford, of Georgia, 
that saved the administration when it was apparently threat- 
ened with defeat. Madison was unwilling to accept war 
with England until it became clearly evident that he must 
declare war or give the Federalists a restoration to power, 
and it was only after he had been very earnestly appealed to 
by the men upon whom he had most to depend, that he sent 
a message to Congress pointing out the necessity of a decla- 
ration of war, to which both branches in secret sessions gave 
their approval. 

It was not until after Madison had decided upon an ag- 
gressive war policy with England that the Congressional 
caucus was called to nominate Republican candidates for 
President and Vice-President. The caucus met on the 12th 
of May apparently without objection, and Madison was re- 
nominated by a unanimous vote, only one member present 
declining to vote. Clinton had died in office, and a new nom- 
ination had to be made for Vice-President. John Langdon, 
of New Hampshire, who was the first Senator to be Presi- 
dent pro tern, of the body, was nominated for Vice-Presi- 
dent, receiving 64 votes to 16 for Elbridge Gerry and 2 scat- 
tering. Langdon declined the nomination, and the second 
caucus was convened when Gerry was nominated by a vote 
of 74 to 3 scattering. While the proceedings of the caucus 

28 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

were apparently very harmonious, there was significance in 
the fact that some 50 Republican Senators and Representa- 
tives did not attend, only one being present from New York 
State. 

The reason for the New York members declining to at- 
tend the caucus was soon developed by a counter movement, 
made in New York, to bring out DeWitt Clinton, who was 
the leader of the Republicans of that State, as the candidate 
in opposition to Madison. The Federalists had no part in 
making him the competitor of Madison, but they were quite 
willing, in their utter helplessness, to support any bolt 
against the omnipotence of the Republican caucus. Many 
of the Republicans thought that the administration was not 
sufficiently aggressive in its opposition to England, and 
many others opposed Madison and were ready to support 
Clinton or any other promising candidate who was entirely 
opposed to the war. Had Clinton acted in harmony with the 
Republicans and supported Madison, he would have been a 
very formidable competitor of Monroe for the succession, 
but in allowing himself to be made a candidate of the opposi- 
tion, he entirely lost his position as a Republican leader. 

Madison had been nominated by the Republican Congres- 
sional caucus on the 12th of May, and on the 29th of May 
a caucus of the Republican members of the New York Leg- 
islature was held, at which 91 of the 93 members were pres- 
ent, and they unanimously nominated Clinton as a candidate 
for President, and the Federalists gradually dropped into his 
support. The Federalists took no formal action for the 
selection of candidates until September, when a conference of 
the leaders of that party was held in New York, with repre- 
sentatives from 11 States, and that conference nominated 
Clinton President with Jared Ingersoll for Vice-President. 

The campaign logically drifted into a square issue between 
the war and the peace parties, and even with all the factional 
hostility to Madison in the Republican ranks, such an issue 
could result only in the success of the party that sustained the 
Government in its war with England. The Federalists car- 
ried a solid New England vote for Clinton with the excep- 
tion of Vermont, that broke loose from her Federal moor- 
ings and cast her entire electoral vote for Madison. New 
York, with the largest electoral vote of any State, was car- 
ried chiefly by Clinton's personal popularity, and New Jer- 
sey was lost to Madison in disregard of the popular vote of 

29 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

the State by a Federal Senate and House that was suc- 
cessful against a Republican majority by reason of the pe- 
culiar shaping of the legislative districts. The Legisla- 
ture repealed the law for the choice of electors by a popular 
vote, and elected Federal electors by the Legislature. Had 
the popular vote of New Jersey prevailed, the vote between 
Madison and Clinton in the Electoral College would have 
been 136 for Madison to 81 for Clinton. The following is 
the vote as cast by the electoral colleges : 





President. 


Vice- 
President. 


STATES. 


> 

c 



•3 
cj 

3 

•a 

s 

•—I 


> 

Jzi 

c 
c 

c 


-t-> 

Q 


t/5 

w 

a 

u 

u 

V 



bo 

'u 

S 


Jafed Ingersoll, Penn. 


New Hampshire 


8 

25 

6 
25 
15 

11 

8 

12 

8 
3 

7 


8 

22 
4 
9 

29 

8 

4 
5 


1 

8 
2 

25 

6 
25 

15 

11 
8 

12 
8 
3 
.7 


7 


Vermont 




Massachusetts 


20 


Rhode Island 


4 


Connecticut 


9 


New York 


29 


New Jersey 


8 


Pennsylvania 




Delaware 


4 


Maryland 


5 


Virginia 




North Carolina 




South Carolina 




Georgia 


_ 


Kentucky , 




Tennessee 




Louisiana , 




Ohio 








Total 


128 


89 


131 









Louisiana was admitted into the L^nion on the 8th of 
April, 1812, and participated in the Presidential election, 
making 18 States. It will be seen that there was but one 
State that cast a divided electoral vote. Maryland continued 

30 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

to choose all but the electors at large by Congressional dis- 
tricts, and gave 6 votes to Madison and 5 to Clinton. North 
Carolina changed her method of electing by districts to the 
choice of electors by the Legislature, thus making her elec- 
toral vote solid. Gerry, the candidate for Vice-President on 
the ticket with Madison, received 3 more votes in the Elec- 
toral College than were given to Madison, one of which 
came from New Hampshire and two from Massachusetts. 



THE MONROE ELECTIONS 

1816-20 



The election of James Monroe to the Presidency in 18 16 
and his re-election in 1820 did not rise to the dignity of 
political contests. The Federal party was practically over- 
thrown by the success of the war with England, and after 
the close of the war Federalism never asserted itself as 
a political factor in national affairs. There were murmurings 
of discontent in the Republican organization, but the Fed- 
eralists were then in the unenviable attitude of having 
sympathized with the enemy in a foreign war, and the 
prejudices of the" patriotic people of the country were in- 
tensified against the action of the Hartford convention, for 
which the Federalists were held responsible. 

Whether justly or unjustly, it was believed by the Repub- 
licans throughout the country that the Hartford convention- 
ists had given " blue-light " signals to the enemy's ships, 
and thereby hindered the escape of American vessels which 
were blockaded. The overthrow of Federalism was so 
complete that the party never again formally presented 
candidates for President and Vice-President, and the first 
Monroe election of 1816 would probably have been as unani- 
mous in the Electoral College as was his second election but 
for the fact that the three Federal States which voted against 
Monroe did not hold popular elections for President at all, 
but chose their electors by the Legislature. Massachusetts, 
the home of Adams, that had always chosen Presidential 
electors by popular vote, repealed the law in 181 6, so that 
there was not a single elector chosen by the people against 
Monroe. 

While Monroe's two elections and administrations are 
now pointed to as the " era of good feeling," that has never 
been repeated in this country, Monroe himself did not 

^2 




JAMES MONROE 



*AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

reach the Presidency by the rosy path that would now be 
naturally accepted for him in his journey to the highest 
civil trust of the nation. The usual Congressional caucus 
was called on the ioth of March, 1816, asking the Republican 
Senators and Representatives to meet on the 12th for the 
purpose of nominating candidates for President and Vice- 
President. Only 58 of the 141 Republican members attended 
this meeting, and, instead of taking action, a resolution was 
passed calling a general caucus for the 16th, and at that 
caucus 118 members appeared. There were strong and 
widespread prejudices against the Congressional caucus 
system, and it was denounced by many prominent Repub- 
licans as " King Caucus" that sought to control the people 
in the selection of the highest officers. 

Senator Crawford, of Georgia, who had been the leading 
Senator, as Clay was the leading Representative, in the 
support of the war during the Madison administration, was 
an aggressive candidate for President, and was more popular 
with the politicians generally throughout the country than 
was Monroe. Great anxiety was felt about the probable 
action of the caucus, as it was feared that Monroe might be 
overthrown, notwithstanding the fact that he was favored 
by both Jefferson and Madison. When the caucus met with 
twenty-three Republican absentees, the majority of whom 
absented themselves because they were positively opposed 
to the caucus system, Mr. Clay offered a resolution declaring 
it inexpedient to nominate candidates, but his proposition 
failed. He thus put himself on record as early as 1816 
against the caucus system, and he rejected and took the field 
against it as a candidate in 1824. 

The canvass between Monroe and Crawford was very 
animated, and Monroe succeeded by only 11 majority, the 
vote being 65 for Monroe and 54 for Crawford. Governor 
Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, was nominated for 
Vice-President, receiving 20 votes more than were given 
to Monroe. The Crawford sentiment was strong in New 
York and New Jersey, as well as in North Carolina, Ken- 
tucky, and his native State of Georgia, and public meetings 
were held in different sections of the country after the nomi- 
nations had been made, denouncing the caucus system, at 
one of which Roger B. Taney, who later became Chief 
Justice, was one of the aggressive opponents. 

Had there been a formidable Federal party, it is doubtful 

33 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

whether Monroe's election might not have been seriously 
imperilled, but the war feeling was too fresh in the minds 
of the people to tolerate anything that w r as in sympathy with 
that expiring political organization. The Republicans who 
were opposed to Monroe had to choose between falling in 
with the caucus nomination, and giving Monroe a unanimous 
support, or making a square fight as a bolting Republican 
faction, without permitting the aid of the Federalists. As 
that was impracticable, the Republican discontent gradually 
subsided and the election of Monroe was conceded by all. 

The Federalists made no nomination, but supported Rufus 
King, one of their old national candidates, and scattered 
their few votes for Vice-President, no two of the three States 
voting for the same candidate. Indiana had adopted a State 
Constitution in June, but was not formally admitted to the 
Union until the nth of December, after the Presidential 
election had been held. The State, however, had voted for 
President, and elected three Republican electors for Monroe, 
but an animated dispute arose in Congress about counting 
the vote, because of the alleged ineligibility of Indiana to 
vote for President when not formally admitted into the 
Union, even though the people had adopted a State Consti- 
tution several months before the election. The two bodies 
separated, to enable the House to decide the issue, but finally 
the question was postponed by a nearly unanimous vote, and 
the Senate invited to return, when the vote was declared as 
follows : 





President. 


Vice-President. 


STATES. 


C3 
> 

of 
o 
u 

c 
o 

s 

05 

a; 

£ 


c 

s 

05 


Daniel D. Tompkins, N.V. 


•6 

u 

O 

& 
o 


of 

01 

O 

05 

s 


08 

> 

05 

U 

cS 

3 

c 
.c 
o 
•—I 


u 
o 
ft 

i-i 

a 

6 
+j 

Ih 

<D 

O 


New Hampshire. . . . 
Vermont 


8 
8 

4 


22 


8 
8 

4 


22 




4 


— ' 


Massachusetts 

Rhode Island 


— 



34 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



\ 


President. 


Vice-President. 








** 




1 










fe 








>d 








m 


■d 






g 


STATES. 


c8 

> 
o 

U 

a 


be 


g 

fl 
o 


•a 

o 


c 

c 

CD 

(X 


OS 

> 

.fl 


Oh 




o 


n 
2 





ffi 


o 


xn 
U 

as 


d 




cfl 


U5 




W 


tfi 


§ 


(h 




0) 


fl 






<D 




a> 




a 


fl 

Pi 


fl 
Q 


.fl 
o 
1—1 


fl 

>— > 


o 


.a 

o 


Connecticut 




9 






5 






New York 


29 

8 


— 


29 

8 


— 


— 


— 





New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 


25 


— 


25 


— 


— 


— 




Delaware 


8 


3 


8 


I 


I 


— 


3 


Maryland 




Virginia 


25 


, 


25 














North Carolina 


15 


— 


15 


— 


— 


— 


— 


South Carolina 


11 


— 


11 


— 


— 


— 


— 


Georgia 


8 





8 














Kentucky 


12 


_ 


12 


__ 


_ 


_ 


. 


Tennessee 


8 
3 

8 


— 


8 
3 
8 
3 


— 


— 


— 


_ 


Louisiana 


_ 


Ohio 


_ 


Indiana 


3 









Total 


183 34 


183 


22 


5 


4 


3 











Monroe's re-election in 1820 presents the singular political 
spectacle of his success without having been formally nomi- 
nated by any party, and without a single electoral vote being 
chosen against him. That had occurred in Washington's 
two elections, but it was not believed possible that, with the 
bitter partisan disputes which immediately followed Wash- 
ington's retirement, any man could ever be chosen for the 
Presidency without more or less of a contest. Monroe's 
administration had no serious political or diplomatic prob- 
lem to confront it, and the country was rapidly recovering 
from the war and proud of the achievements of the American 
army and navy in the second contest with the English. 

Monroe was naturally cautious and conservative. There 
was nothing aggressive in the policy of his administration, 
and really no occasion to invite aggression. The Federal 
Party was practically extinct, and the Republicans were in 

35 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



thorough accord with the Monroe administration. A feeble 
movement was made early in 1820 to supersede Monroe, but 
it never attained importance, and even those who attempted 
it denied responsibility for it. The usual Republican Con- 
gressional caucus was called, and very few members took 
the trouble to attend it. as there was really nothing to do : 
and it was deemed better for the party- to accept Monroe 
and Tompkins for re-election than to have formal nomina- 
tions made by a very few representatives of the party. 
Monroe and Tompkins were thus accepted without any 
formalities whatever as the Republican candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President, and no opposing candidates were 
presented in any way whatever of which I can find any 
record or tradition. Monroe thus ran in 1820. as Washing- 
ton did at both his elections, without opposition, and every 
electoral vote of the nation was chosen for him. 

Five new States had been admitted and participated in 
the election of 1820. Mississippi came in December. 1817 : 
Illinois in December. 1818: Alabama in December. 1819; 
Maine in March. 1820. and Missouri had adopted a Consti- 
tution in July. 1820. and although not formally admitted 
into the Union until August. 1821. the vote of that State 
was counted, as was the vote of Indiana in 18 16. The 
following is the official vote as announced by Congress : 





Preside:" 


Vice-Presidext. 


- 




X 
T. 


> 












«3 


. 












g 


z 


•— > 








s 


X 

- 


at 

= 


z 


2 ■ 




STATES. 


> 


<* 

— 


- 
Z. 


z 


- 


O 


. 




D 


< 


= 


— 
* 


- 


PU 






Z 

- 
O 




— 




'- 

- 




z 

— 
OB 

— 


- 

6 


— 


r 
- 




X 


:• 


- 


= 


-s-> 


- 


T 




= 
- 
— 


- 
— 

— 


r; 

r. 
- 


a 


Knl.c 


— 


r. 


Maine 


9 


1 


9 


— 


1 




New Hampshire 





Vermont 


B 


— 


s 


— 








Massachusetts 


15 


— 


f 


V 










4 


— 


-± 


— 








Connecticut 


9 


— 


9 


— 








New York 


29 


— 


•29 


— 

















36 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 





President. 


Vice-President. 






Xfl 


►* 














a 
















3 


£ 


fc-i 












s 


'A 


fc 


% 


c 


4) 


STATES. 


> 






© 


<u 




Q 




o 
u 


< 
o 


H 
O 


o 





*ifl 


•0 




o 


a 




c/2 




c3 


o 




s 


3 


Q 


tJ 


o 


s 


M 




U5 
1) 

B 




4) 

'3 

a3 


c3 

o 


U 

c 


O 


5 

'5 


' 


>—> 


»— > 


Q 


ti 


(* 


f* 


Q 


New Jersey 


8 




8 










Pennsylvania* 


24 


— 


24 


— 


— 





— 


Delaware 


4 

11 




10 




1 




4 


Maryland 




Virginia 


25 




25 










North Carolina 


15 





15 
















11 


— 


11 


— 


— 





— 


Georgia 


8 




8 












Alabama 


3 

2 


— 


Q 

o 
2 


] 


— 





Mississippi* 





Louisiana 


3 
12 


— 


Q 
O 

12 










Kentucky , 


— 


Tennessee* 


7 


— 


7 


— — 





— 


Ohio 


8 


— 


8 


— — 





— 


Indiana 


3 
3 
3 


— 


3 
3 

Q 

o 









Illinois 




Missouri 








Total 


231 


1 

1 


218 


8 1 


1 


4 











* One elector in each of the States of Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and Tennessee 
died after appointment, and before the meetings of the electors. 

It will be seen that a single electoral vote was cast against 
Monroe in the New Hampshire Electoral College. The 
whole 8 electors were chosen as Monroe men, and would 
have voted for him had it been necessary to elect him, but 
one of the New Hampshire electors gave as his reason for 
voting for John Quincy Adams for President and Richard 
Rush, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President, that he was 
unwilling that any other President than Washington should 
receive a unanimous electoral vote. 

Monroe's administrations were uneventful beyond the 
assertion of what has ever since been known as the Monroe 
Doctrine, that was evolved by Monroe and John Quincy 



Z7 






OUR PRESIDENTS 

Adams, his Secretary of State, and the first serious contest 
in Congress over the Slavery issue, growing out of the 
admission of Missouri as a State. After the admission of 
Louisiana as a State the remainder of the territory embrac- 
ing the Louisiana purchase was organized as the Territory 
of Missouri, and in 1818 the portion of the territory now 
embraced in the State of Missouri applied for admission 
into the Union as a State. In 1819 the House passed a bill 
for the admission of Missouri, with a clause prohibiting 
slavery, but it was not accepted by the Senate. 

In 1820 the Senate sent a bill to the House for the admis- 
sion of Maine, and authorizing the organization of the 
State of Missouri. The House had already passed a bill 
for the admission of Maine, but it refused to accept the 
Senate's provision relating to Missouri. There was very 
violent agitation on the Slavery question for some time, and 
many feared that it would end in the disruption of the 
Union ; but Clay became the pacificator, and chiefly by his 
efforts what has ever since been known as the Missouri 
Compromise was accepted, admitting Missouri as a slave 
State, but prohibiting slavery' in all of the Louisiana terri- 
tory north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude. 
This compromise did not fully satisfy either side, but it 
was accepted, and on the 10th of August, 1821, President 
Monroe proclaimed the admission of Missouri into the 
Union. 

Monroe had the most Unruffled period of rule ever known 
in the history of the Republic. Washington, with all his 
omnipotence, was fearfully beset by factional strife and the 
wrangles of ambition on every side, and there was no period 
of his two administrations in which he was not greatly 
fretted by the persistent and often desperate disputes among 
those who should have been his friends ; but Monroe had 
an entirely peaceful reign, with the single exception of the 
slavery dispute over the Missouri question, and at the close 
of his term he retired to his home in Virginia entirely 
exhausted in fortune. For several years he acted as a 
Justice of the Peace, but his severely straitened circum- 
stances finally compelled him to make his home with his 
son-in-law in New York, where he died in 183 1, and, like 
Jefferson and Adams, on the 4th of July. 




JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 



THE ADAMS-JACKSON-CRAWFORD- 
CLAY CONTEST 

1824 

With the re-election of Monroe in 1820, the Federal party 
had perished as a political factor ; " King Caucus," as the 
Congressional caucus for nominating national candidates 
had been generally designated, had fulfilled its mission, and 
none pretended that it could be revived to name the successor 
of Monroe. As Federalism was unfelt and unfeared, and as 
the Congressional caucus had lost its prestige and power, the 
Presidential field of 1824 invited a free-for-all race, and the 
discussion of the succession began actively as early as 1822. 
It seemed unaccountable that the Republicans, after having 
had the benefit of the Congressional caucus to concentrate 
their vote on national candidates, did not conceive the idea 
of a general conference of representative Republicans from 
the different States to unite them on candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President, but no national convention was 
ever held by any party until the anti-Masons inaugurated it 
in Philadelphia in 1830, two years before the Presidential 
election of 1832. 

As there was practically no Federal party, none but Re- 
publicans were discussed for the succession to Monroe. It 
is a common but erroneous idea that John Quincy Adams 
was in harmony with the Federal sentiment of his State and 
New England generally. After having filled a number of 
important offices, principally in diplomatic circles, he was 
elected to the United States Senate as a Federalist by the 
Massachusetts Legislature in 1802, but he heartily sup- 
ported, the administration of Jefferson, resulting in instruc- 
tions passed by the Legislature demanding that he should 
change his political policy. He refused to obey the Legis- 
lative instructions, but resigned his seat in the Senate, and 
thenceforth he acted uniformly with the Republicans, and 
was Secretary of State during the eight years of Monroe's 
administration. 

39 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

While very many candidates were discussed for the suc- 
cession, when the time came for concentration only six 
names remained, and three of those were members of the 
Monroe Cabinet. They were John Quincy Adams. Secretary 
of State : John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War ; William H. 
Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury : Henry Clay, of 
Kentucky, who had been Speaker of the House ; Ex-Gover- 
nor De Witt Clinton, of New York, who was not then in 
official position, and General Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, 
who had been Senator. Representative, and Supreme Judge. 
Mr. Clay was presented to the people as a candidate for 
President by the Kentucky Legislature as early as the iStli 
of November, 1822, or two years before the election, and the 
Missouri Legislature also adopted a resolution about the 
same time recommending Mr. Clay. During the year 1823 
the Legislatures of Illinois. Ohio, and Louisiana had also 
formally favored Clay. 

General Jackson was first formally named for the Presi- 
dency by a mass-meeting in Blount County, Tenn.. early 
in 1823. and that was followed up by various mass-meetings 
and local conventions in different parts of the LTnion. Mr. 
Adams, although not in sympathy with the Federalists. 
having earnestly supported the war with England against 
the Federal sentiment of his State, was presented as a can- 
didate by the Legislature of Massachusetts, and it was 
seconded by most of the New England States during the 
early part of the year 1824. 

Clinton was nominated by local mass-meetings in N 
York and Ohio. Calhoun was presented by the Legislature 
of South Carolina, and Crawford by the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia. It is worthy of note that while Adams was the 
Premier of the administration, Crawford was obviously the 
favorite candidate of President Monroe, as the Legislature 
of Virginia recommended Crawford, and Virginia voted for 
him at the election. 

All of these candidates were opposed to the Congressional 
caucus excepting Crawford, who had been the competitor of 
Monroe in the caucus in 1816. His friends made earnest 
effort to get the prestige of a caucus nomination, and 
Senators and 5 Representatives from different States calle 
a caucus to meet on the 14th of February, 1824. "' to recom- 
mend candidates to the people of the Cnited States for the 
office of President and Vice-President." That call was met 



40 






AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

by a card signed by 24 Republican Senators and members 
declaring that of the 261 Senators and Representatives there 
were 81 who were opposed to the caucus. The caucus was 
held, however, but only 66 members appeared, a majority of 
whom were from 4 States, and 8 States were not represented 
at all. A motion to adjourn to meet some weeks later was 
opposed by Air. Van Buren and rejected. A ballot was then 
had for President, when Crawford received 64, Adams 2, 
Jackson 1, and Macon 1. Albert Gallatin, of Pennsylvania, 
was also nominated for Vice-President. 

The caucus nomination was certainly a hindrance rather 
than a help to Crawford, as it concentrated his opponents 
to a very large extent. The caucus system had become very 
odious, and with 5 of the 6 candidates openly hostile to the 
caucus, it placed Crawford at a decided disadvantage. Gal- 
latin, who was of foreign birth, was bitterly assailed, and a 
month before the election he withdrew his name as a can- 
didate, but no attempt was made to give formal nomination 
to a successor for him on the ticket. 

Strange as it may appear, Pennsylvania, the home of 
Gallatin, did not cordially respond to his nomination, and 
there was a decided preference in that State in favor of 
Calhoun for Vice-President. Calhoun and Clinton, being 
without any large measure of support, gradually dropped 
out of the Presidential contest, leaving Adams, Jackson, 
Crawford, and Clay to make the scrub race. There were 24 
States to participate in the election, and New York, Ver- 
mont, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana 
chose their electors by their Legislatures, while Maine, 
Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, and Kentucky chose elec- 
tors by districts, and in the other States popular elections 
were held and electors chosen by general ticket. 

An incident that occurred in the selection of electors by 
the Legislature of New York resulted in making Clay the 
fourth candidate in the Electoral College instead of the third. 
There were 3 of the electors chosen by the Legislature who 
were elected as Clay men by a combination between the Clay 
and Adams men, who in the Electoral College divided their 
votes between Adams, Crawford, and Jackson, and had they 
voted for Clay, as it was expected they would, Clay would 
have had 40 votes in the electoral colleges and Crawford 
only 38. As only the three highest candidates in the Elec- 
toral College could be returned to the House from which a 

41 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

choice had to be made, Crawford was thus returned instead 
of Clay, and if Clay had been returned, it is probable that 
Adams would not have been chosen President. The Xew 
York Legislature had a protracted contest in choosing elec- 
tors. The combined strength of the -candidates in the two 
Houses as shown by the ist ballot was 60 for Crawford. 57 
for Adams, and 39 for Clay. Finally a combination was 
made between the friends of Adams and Clay, and divided 
electors were chosen, by which Adams received 26 votes, 
Crawford 5, Clay 4, and Jackson 1. In Delaware the elec- 
tors were divided by a like dispute in the Legislature. 

The contest was not one of great bitterness, and in some 
States there was practically no contest at all. Massachusetts 
and Virginia, for instance, did not poll half their votes, as 
they were really not contested, one being conceded to Adams 
and the other to Crawford. The following is the popular 
vote of the States except where the electors were chosen by 
the Legislature, as nearly as it can be ascertained after the 
most exhaustive investigation of the records : 



STATES. 



Jackson. 



Adams. Crawford. Clay. 



643 



Maine* 

Xew Hampshire 

Vermont? 

Massachusetts* 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut. , 

New Yorkf 

New Jersey 10,985 

Pennsylvania 36.100 

Delaware! 

Marvland* 14.523 



Virginia 

North Carolina . . 
South Carolinaf. 

Georgiaf 

Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana? 

Kentucky* 

Tennessee 

Missouri 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois* , 



2.861 
20,415 



9.443 
3.234 

6,455 

20,19? 

987 

7.343 
1,901 



10,289 2.336 

4,107 

30, 68* 6,616 

2,145 200 

7,5>~ 1,978 

9,110 1,196 

5.440 4.206 

14,6:: 3,646 

3,1 8 489 

15.621 ! 



2.416 1,680 



1,694 



216 
311 

12.280 
3,095 
1,542 



Totals ! 153,544 108.740 



119 



312 



219 



46.618 



1.609 

695 

416 



67 



17.321 

1,401 

19.255 

5.315 

1,047 



47.136 



*By districts. 



tBy Legis .- 



4-2 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



The popular vote as given in the foregoing table does not 
fully represent the relative strength of the opposition can- 
didates to Jackson. There were what were called " Opposi- 
tion" tickets, " People's" tickets, and " Convention" tickets 
voted in different States. It will be seen that Jackson re- 
ceived no votes in New England excepting a few in New 
Hampshire, and in most of those States electoral tickets were 
known as " Opposition" designed to concentrate all the op- 
position to Adams, and in North Carolina the Jackson ticket 
was voted as the " People's" ticket, but no more intelligent 
and satisfactory presentation of the popular vote can be gath- 
ered from the records than that presented. 

The following is the vote of the Electoral College : 







President. 


Vice-President. 




pi 












'j> 


pi 








c 




d 




o 


!* 




p: 








h 


c/5 


O 




t/3 


£* 


£ 


e 


> 




STATES. 


c 
o 

o 


a 


o 




R 

O 


"0 

u 
o 

G 
nj 
CG 


P! 
O 
o 


c 
o 

en 
<j 


c 

1-1 






u 


< 

a 


X 


U 




PI 






P! 
> 


0} 

O 




< 


•— i 


r~ 


ffi 


*—t 


"A 


B 


< 


% 


ffi 


Maine 




9 

8 




— 


9 

! 7 


— 


— 


1 






New Hampshire 





Vermont 


— 


7 
15 





— 


' 7 
15 


— 


— 


— 


— 




Massachusetts.. 


_ 


Rhode Island . . 


— 


4 





— 


3 


— 


— 


— 








Connecticut 


— 


8 












8 






New York . 
New Jersey 




1 

8 


26 


5 


4 


29 

8 


7 


— 


— 


— 









Pennsylvania. . . 


28 


— 


— 


— 


28 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


Delaware . 




7 


1 
3 


2 
1 


— 


1 
10 


— 


— 


1 


— 


2 


Maryland 




Virginia 






24 


— 




— 


24 










North Carolina . 


15 


— 


— 


— 


15 


— 


— 


— 








South Carolina . 


11 


— 


— 


— 


11 


— 





— 








Georgia 








9 












9 




Alabama . . 




5 










. 5 
















Mississippi 




3 


— 


— 


— 


3 


— 


— 


— 


— 


— 


Louisiana. 




3 


2 


— 


— 


5 


— 


— 


— 








Kentucky . 




— 


— 


— 


14 


7 


7 


— 


— 


— 





Tennessee . 




11 


— 


— 


— 


11 


— 





— 








Missouri. . 




— 


r 


— 


3 


. — . 


— 





3 








Ohio 




5 

2 


1 





16 


5 
3 


16 


: 





— 




Indiana . . . 






Illinois. . . . 












Total . 


99 


84 


41 


37 


182 


30 


24 


13 


9 


2 







43 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Jackson led the popular vote, as was generally expected, 
and next to him is Adams, with Clay third and Crawford 
fourth. While all of the 4 candidates were regarded as Re- 
publicans as between Federalism and Republicanism, the 
friends of Adams in a number of the States fought the battle 
under the title of National Republicans, and the supporters 
of Jackson, who represented the more Democratic element 
of the opponents of Federalism, entitled themselves in some- 
States the Democratic Republicans. As was generally ex- 
pected, there was no choice for President, as no one of the 4 
candidates had a majority of either the popular or electoral 
votes, but Calhoun was elected Vice-President by a large ma- 
jority, having received the support of the Adams men gener- 
ally in Xew England, and of the Jackson men in Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and indeed in 
all of the Southern States, excepting Georgia, Kentucky, and 
[Missouri. 

Thus for the second time in the history of the Republic the 
Presidential election was remanded to the House for final 
decision, and the names of Jackson, Adams, and Crawford, 
the three highest in the Electoral College, were returned to 
that body from which a choice had to be made by a ma- 
jority of the States. Although Clay had received less votes 
than Crawford, he was a very much more potent factor in 
deciding the contest between the three candidates than Craw- 
ford could have been, and it soon became evident that the 
friends of Clay were in much closer accord and sympathy 
with Adams than they were with the friends of either Craw- 
ford or Jackson. Clay certainly had no love for Jackson, as 
Jackson was not accredited with any great qualities of states- 
manship, and it was the general apprehension that Clay 
would control the election in favor of Adams that made the 
friends of Jackson publish the accusation of " bargain and 
sale" between Adams and Clay, by which Clay was to make 
Adams President and receive the position of Premier under 
the administration. Although the Legislature of Kentucky 
had requested the Congressmen from that State to vote for 
Jackson, there were well-known reasons, both public and 
personal, why Clay could not favor Jackson, and on the first 
ballot in the House Adams received the votes of 13 States, 
with 7 for Jackson and 4 for Crawford. The majority of 
the delegation of each State decided how the vote should be 
cast, and the following table shows not only how the vote of 

44 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

each State was given, but the divisions in the different del- 
egations in deciding between the three candidates : 



STATES. 


Adams. 


Jackson. 


Crawford. 


Vote for— 


Maine 


7 
6 
5 

12 
2 
6 

18 
1 
1 

5 

1 
1 

2 

8 

1 

10 

1 


1 

2 

5 

25 

3 
1 
2 

9 

3 
1 
1 

4 
9 

2 
3 


14 

1 

1 

19 

10 

7 
2 


Adams. 


New Hampshire 

Vermont 


Adams. 
Adams. 


Massachusetts 


Adams. 


Rhode Island 


Adams. 


Connecticut 


Adams. 


New York 

New Jersey 


Adams. 

Jackson. 

Jackson. 

Crawford. 

Adams. 


Pennsylvania 


Delaware 

Maryland 


Virginia 


Crawford. 


North Carolina 


Crawford. 


South Carolina. . . 


Jackson. 
Crawford 


Georgia 


Alabama 


Jackson. 

Jackson. 

Adams. 

Adams. 

Jackson. 

Adams. 


Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Missouri 


Ohio 


Adams. 


Indiana 


Jackson. 
Adams. 


Illinois 








87 


71 


54 





The administration of John Quincy Adams will be re- 
garded by the careful and dispassionate student of American 
history as the model government of the Republic. He was 
the most accomplished scholar who ever filled the position, 
and surpassed all others in general and accurate intelligence. 
He was a tireless student until the day of his death, and he 
had no taste and no fitness for political manipulation. He 
removed but two men from office during his four years in the 
Presidency, and they were dismissed for very good cause, 
and in the discharge of his official duties he looked solely to 
what he conceived to be the interests of the nation. 

He made no efforts to popularize himself personally ; 
was regarded as austere and unapproachable, but he was 
always courteous, and the arts of the demagogue had no 



45 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

place in the Executive Mansion. He was the real author of 
the Monroe Doctrine, and earnestly attempted to accom- 
plish what Blaine struggled to accomplish three-quarters of 
a century later — that is, the unity of the South American 
governments in sympathy with our Government. His Cab- 
inet was not in political harmony, but as he regarded politics 
as entirely outside of Cabinet duties, he never took note of 
political disagreements. He aimed to win a re-election solely- 
by deserving the considerate approval of the American 
people. After his defeat he returned to his home in Massa- 
chusetts, but was soon elected to Congress, where he con- 
tinued until his death in 1848. 

As an illustration of the careful methods of his life my 
own experience in obtaining his autograph serves a good 
purpose. A few weeks before his death, when I was the 
editor of a village newspaper and ambitious to have the auto- 
graphs of the celebrated men of the country, I wrote him 
asking for an autograph letter. I received no reply, and 
after his death was announced I assumed that the letter had 
gone into the waste basket ; but three months after his death 
I received a letter franked by Louise Catharine Adams 
(widows of Presidents were then accorded the franking 
privilege), and the envelope contained only the autograph of 
John Quincy Adams, clipped from a public document that 
he had franked. The pressure of duties had prevented him 
from answering my letter, but the fact that it was answered 
by his wife so long after his death is evidence that many let- 
ters had accumulated, all of which were answered by Mrs. 
Adams. He fitly died in the Capitol of the nation. He was 
stricken with paralysis during a session of the House, and 
died on the following day, having written, as I believe, the 
most lustrous political record of any of our statesmen, with 
the single exception of Abraham Lincoln. 







ANDREW JACKSON 



THE JACKSON-ADAMS-CLAY 
CONTESTS 

1828-32 

The election of Jackson to the Presidency in 1828 was not 
in any sense a revolution as to the general policy of the Gov- 
ernment, but it was a decided revolution in the political 
methods of our national administrations. Madison, Mon- 
roe, and Adams were not confronted by the spoils system. 
They never entertained the question of removing men from 
office to reward political friends or to punish political 
enemies. 

The civil service system of the Government under those 
administrations was an ideal system, but the Jackson lead- 
ers openly inspired the followers of their favorite to earnest 
political action by the declaration that " to the victors belong 
the spoils." That slogan was first heard in the Jackson- 
Adams campaign of 1828, and when Jackson succeeded, 
for the first time Washington was overrun with a countless 
host of greedy spoilsmen, clamoring for the dismissal of 
every man who had not supported Jackson. 

Jackson himself was thoroughly committed to the policy 
of political proscription, and from that day until the present 
time it has been generally accepted that a change of politics 
in the national administrations means a general change of the 
now enormous army of Federal officers, excepting as it is 
feebly restrained by all parties professing devotion to a civil 
service system with none honestly maintaining it. 

When it is remembered that Jackson was defeated by 
Adams in 1824, although having more popular and electoral 
votes than Adams, it is not surprising that the friends of 
Jackson became intensely embittered, and they opened the 
campaign of 1828 immediately after the inauguration of 
Adams in 1825. In the Southwest, where Jackson lived and 
had his chief strength outside of Pennsylvania, the cockpit, 
the race-course and the gaming-table were favorite amuse- 

47 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

merits, and the people were strongly prejudiced against what 
they regarded as the aristocratic power that had been main- 
tained by the Virginia Presidents and continued by Adams. 
They had a candidate who enthused his followers to the ut- 
termost, and the quiet citizens of Washington, long used to 
the delectable and cultivated official circles which had pre- 
vailed from Washington to the second Adams, were shocked 
at the mob of Democratic place-hunters who crowded into 
the Capitol when Jackson became President, and had access 
to the White House regardless of conventionality, where 
:=::: is reported to have smoked his corn-cob pipe during 
his greeting of visitors. With Jackson came the spoils sys- 
tem that has done so much to demoralize the politics of the 
Republic. 

Jackson held a very strong position before the nation, not 
only because of his triumph over the British at Xew Or- 
leans, but because of the high civil positions which he had 
rilled with reasonable credit, but without displaying any high 
standard of statesmanship. He aided in framing the 
Tennessee Constitution in 1796.. and was elected as the first 
Representative in Congress by the people after the admission 
of the State, then entitled to only one member. 

He had been an ardent supporter of Jefferson in his first 
contest with the elder Adams, and in 1797 he was elected to 
the United Statrs Senate, but he resigned a year later to be- 
come a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, where he 
served until 1804. and was again elected Senator in 1823. 
He had filled all those important civil positions before he had 
attained any military distinction. He had served in the last 
year of the war of the revolution as a boy, and the only thing 
notable that is preserved of his military record of that day 
is the tradition that after he had been captured by the British 
he was wounded by an English officer because he refused to 
clean the officer's boots. 

It is not likely that he ever would have been a prominent 
candidate for President but for the fact that he defeated the 
English in the battle of Xew Orleans on the 8th of January. 
[815. Had there been steamships, cables, and telegraphs at 
that time Jackson could never have commanded the hero 
worship that twice elected him President and made him 
practically political dictator. 

The treaty of peace between England and the United 
States was signed at Ghent on December 24. 18 14. but it re- 

4$ 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

quired nearly a month for the Government to receive infor- 
mation that the treaty had been signed and that the war was 
ended. On January 8, 1815, more than a fortnight after 
England and the United States were actually at peace by 
their own treaty, the battle of New Orleans was fought be- 
tween Jackson and Packenham, and a victory achieved over 
the English that then electrified the country as thoroughly as 
did Dewey's victory at Manila. That victory, and that vic- 
tory alone, made Jackson President, and with his rugged and 
indomitable will, for nearly a generation he stamped his im- 
press upon the policy of the Government w T ith greater em- 
phasis than any other living man since Washington. 

The Presidential contest of 1828 formally began soon 
after the inauguration of Adams, when the Legislature of 
Tennessee presented Jackson as a candidate, and the crit- 
icisms of the Adams administration revived much of the 
political asperities and resentments of the violent discussions 
between the old Federalist and Republican parties in the days 
of Jefferson and the elder Adams. One of the reasons 
strongly urged against the re-election of Adams was that his 
administration had become recklessly extravagant, as the 
expenditures of the Government under him had reached the 
enormous sum of nearly $14,000,000 a year. 

Adams was attacked also because of his liberal views on 
the questions of protection and public improvements, 
although Jackson had sustained nearly or quite the same 
views by his votes in Congress. Adams had no trained polit- 
ical leaders ; his Cabinet was divided even on the question 
of supporting himself, and the ideal statesmanship that 
Adams worshipped was not calculated to school and equip 
great politicians. Chiefly through the efforts of Martin Van 
Buren the supporters of Crawford were brought into the 
support of Jackson, a feat that was probably not difficult 
from the fact that Clay, the Secretary of State under Adams, 
was not friendly with Crawford. 

The Congressional caucus was not thought of, and Adams 
became a candidate to succeed himself by resolutions of 
Legislatures and mass-meetings. Calhoun, who was the 
Vice-President under Adams, was accepted by the friends 
of Jackson and received nearly as large an electoral vote as 
his chief. It was a contest between the dignified statesman- 
ship of that day and the Democratic element of the country. 
Adams was accepted as the National Republican candidate 

49 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

and Jackson was supported under the flags of Republican 
Democracy, and in some sections of Democracy alone. It was 
this contest and the success of Jackson that crystallized the 
Republican party of Jefferson into the Democratic party that 
then had the ablest political leaders of the nation. 

The friends of Adams seem to have been confident of his 
re-election, and a majority of the States chose their 
electors by popular vote. It was a battle between the 
Democratic hero of New Orleans, the friend of the people, 
and the aristocratic power of the Republic. With Jack- 
son's great prestige and Adams's feebleness in resources to 
support himself in the great contest before the people, it is 
not surprising that Jackson was elected by a very large pop- 
ular and electoral majority. The following is the popular 
vote where a direct vote was had in the several States be- 
tween Jackson and Adams : 



STATES. 



Maine* 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts . . 
Rhode Island . . . 
Connecticut .... 

New York* 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania. . . 
Delawaret. 

Maryland* 

Virginia 

North Carolina. 
South Carolinat 

Georgiaf 

Alabamaf 

Mississippif. . . . 

Louisianat 

Kentuckyf 

Tennessee* 

Missouri 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Totals 



Jackson. 


Adams. 


13,927 


20,733 


20,922 


24,134 


8,350 


25,363 


6,016 


29,876 


821 


2,754 


4,448 


13,838 


140,763 


135,413 


21,951 


23,764 


101,652 


50,848 


24,565 


25,527 


26,752 


12,101 


37,857 


13,918 


19,363 


No opposition. 


17,138 


1,938 


6,772 


1,581 


4,603 


4,076 


39,397 


31,460 


44,2?3 


2,240 


8,272 


3,400 


67,597 


63,396 


22,257 


17,052 


9,560 


4,662 



647,276 



508,064 



* Chosen by districts. t By Legislature. 
50 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



The majority for Jackson was so decisive both in popular 
and electoral votes that the verdict was accepted by the coun- 
try, and the vote was counted and declared by Congress 
without any incident worthy of note. The following table 
presents the vote in detail for President and Vice-President 
in the Electoral College : 





President. 


Vice-President. 


STATES. 


a 

a 
o 

e 

a 
o 

to 
M 
o 
cc) 

1—! 


w 

3 

of 

B 
a 
•d 

< 

o 

G 

'3 
a 


u 
ai 

d 

O 
O 

6 


a 
c 

w 

■d 

u 


V 

*-> 
1 

6 




< 


S3 
O 


o 


o 


1 


Maine 


1 

20 

28 

5 


8 
8 
7 

15 
4 
8 

16 
8 

3 
6 


1 

20 

28 

5 

24 

15 

11 

2 

5 

3 

5 

14 

11 

16 

5 

3 

3 


8 
8 
7 

15 
4 
8 

16 
8 

3 
6 




New Hampshire 

Vermont 


— 


Massachusetts 




Rhode Island 




Connecticut 




New York 




New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 




Delaware 




Maryland 




Virginia 


24 — 
15 — 
11 




North Carolina 




South Carolina 




Georgia 


9 
5 
3 
5 

14 

11 

16 

5 

3 

3 


— 




Alabama 




Mississippi 




Louisiana 




Kentucky 




Tennessee 




Ohio 




Indiana 




Illinois 




Missouri 








Totals 


178 


83 


171 


83 


(7 
1 







The campaign of 1832 resulting in the triumphant re-elec- 

51 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

tion of Jackson developed a more confused condition of 
politics in the nation than had ever been presented. The 
Federal party was dead, and did not even pretend to main- 
tain its organization in any of the States. The Republican 
party was divided between the National Republicans and 
the Democratic Republicans, who followed Jackson, and 
finally adopted the flag of Democracy. Jackson's first 
administration had been anything but a peaceful one. An 
open quarrel had broken out between Jackson and Vice-Pres- 
ident Calhoun, and Jackson was not only a good hater, but a 
good fighter. He was largely influenced by Van Buren, who 
was his Secretary of State, and who was one of the most 
sagacious political managers of his day. He aimed to suc- 
ceed Jackson as President by having the Jackson administra- 
tion enlisted in his favor, and his first step toward that end 
was to overthrow Calhoun, and Jackson emphasized his 
hostility to Calhoun by dictating the nomination of Van 
Buren for Vice-President. 

A considerable number of prominent old Republicans who 
had supported Jackson had become alienated from him be- 
cause of the intensely partisan qualities of his administration 
and because of his aggressive interference in the Cabinet 
scandal resulting from Mrs. Eaton's social ambition as the 
wife of a Cabinet minister. Scandals were multiplied in 
Washington about the Jackson Kitchen Cabinet., of which 
Amos Kendall was regarded as the chief, but with all the dis- 
turbance in the National Capitol, the people of the country 
were sturdy in their devotion to Jackson, as was proved by 
his large majority*, both in popular and electoral votes, over 
Clay, who was confessedly the ablest leader of the opposi- 
tion. 

This contest brings us to the introduction of the National 
Convention. The first political national convention held in 
this country was called to meet in Philadelphia in Septem- 
ber, 1830. by a number of prominent anti-Masonic leaders. 
The anti-Mason party had sprung up suddenly and attained 
great power in the North, as it was the only outlet for the 
old Federalists, most of whom were in sympathy with the 
opposition of the new party to Ma sonic and all other secret 
societies. 

The death of William Morgan, who, it was claimed, had 
been murdered by the Masons for revealing the secrets of 
the order, was most dramatically presented in the political 

52 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

organs of the day, and the new party speedily absorbed most 
of the opposition elements to the Democracy in the Northern 
States. The anti-Masonic national convention that met in 
Philadelphia in 1830 was presided over by Francis Granger, 
of New York, and was composed of 96 delegates, represent- 
ing New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode 
Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, and the 
Territory of Michigan. This convention was held more than 
two years before the Presidential election, for which it was 
expected to nominate candidates for President, but instead 
of making nominations, it adjourned to meet in Baltimore in 
September, 183 1, when it had 112 delegates, with Indiana 
and Ohio added to the States presented. John C. Spencer 
was its president, and William Wirt, of Maryland, was 
nominated for President, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsyl- 
vania, for Vice-President. Instead of passing a platform, 
as is now common, the convention issued an elaborate ad- 
dress to the people of the Union. 

This action of the anti-Masons was followed by the Na- 
tional Republicans, who met in national convention at Bal- 
timore, on December 12, 1831, with 17 States, represented by 
157 delegates. Henry Clay was nominated for President 
and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President. No 
platform was adopted by this convention, but it followed the 
anti-Masons by issuing an address to the people of the coun- 
try in which it was stated that " the political history of the 
Union for the last three years exhibits a series of measures 
plainly dictated in all their principal features by blind cupid- 
ity or vindictive party spirit, marked throughout by a dis- 
regard of good policy, justice, and every high and generous 
sentiment, and terminating in a dissolution of the Cabinet 
under circumstances more discreditable than any of the kind 
to be met with in the annals of the civilized world." 

The Democrats followed the anti-Masons and National 
Republicans by calling a National Democratic convention, to 
meet in Baltimore in May, 1832, to nominate a candidate for 
Vice-President. Jackson was so universally accepted as the 
candidate of the Democrats for re-election that the conven- 
tion was not allowed to make a nomination for the first office, 
but a resolution was passed declaring that the convention 
" cordially concurred in the repeated nominations that Gen- 
eral Jackson had received in various parts of the country for 
re-election as President." The convention adopted the two- 

53 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

thirds rule that has prevailed in every Democratic conven- 
tion from that day until the present time, requiring that 
" two-thirds of the whole number of the votes in the conven- 
tion shall be necessary to constitute a choice." 

Van Buren was nominated for Vice-President, receiving 
208 votes to 26 for Richard M. Johnson and 49 for Philip P. 
Barbour. No platform of principles was adopted, nor was 
an address issued by the convention to the people, but a reso- 
lution was passed declaring that " in place of a general ad- 
dress from this body" the delegations should address their 
respective constituents on the political issues of the day. 

Never were two candidates presented for the first office 
of the nation who so widely differed in their chief qualities. 
Jackson was a clear-headed man of rugged intellect, of in- 
flexible purpose, a relentless opponent and a devoted friend, 
while Clay was the most magnetic of all the popular leaders 
this country has ever produced. No one before or since 
Clay's time has approached him in that peculiar quality but 
James G. Blaine. The hero-worship of Jackson was earnest 
and always aggressive when summoned to battle, but Clay 
was beloved and idolized beyond that accorded to any leader 
of any party in the history of the Republic. He was a most 
brilliant orator, imposing in presence and gifted in every 
grace that attracted the multitude, and he was imperious as 
Caesar in his leadership. His friends battled for him with 
matchless enthusiasm, but Jackson was so strongly en- 
trenched in the confidence of the masses that he won an easy 
victory over, the Sage of Ashland. 

The contest was one of unusual violence and defamation, 
and it was doubtless aggravated by the personal enmity that 
existed between Jackson and Clay. The veto of the bill re- 
chartering the Bank of the United States had greatly dis- 
turbed financial circles, and it was believed in the early part 
of the struggle that the financial and business interests of the 
country would endanger Jackson's success, but the popular 
prejudice against banks in that day was so great that Jack- 
son largely profited by the open opposition of his former sup- 
porters who were interested in maintaining a national finan- 
cial institution. The anti-Masonic electoral ticket was 
adopted by the National Republicans in several of the States, 
and it is specially shown in the popular vote of Vermont, 
where Clay appears to have carried the State, and yet the 
electoral vote was given to William Wirt, the anti-Masonic 

54 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

candidate. Had it been possible for the electoral vote of that 
State to elect Clay President, it would have been cast for 
him. 

The number of electors had been enlarged by the new 
apportionment, and Delaware had provided for the choice of 
electors by a popular vote, leaving South Carolina as the only 
State to appoint electors by the Legislature. That State 
continued the system of the legislative choice of electors 
without interruption until the civil war of 1861. Several of 
the States also abandoned the election of delegates by the 
district system, Maryland alone adhering to it. In Alabama 
there was no electoral ticket opposed to Jackson, and the 
popular vote is not attainable. Georgia was also without an 
anti-Jackson electoral ticket, while Missouri, that was 
friendly to Clay in 1824, seems to have made no battle for 
him against Jackson. The following is the popular vote, as 
nearly as it can be ascertained : 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . 
Rhode Island. . . 
Connecticut. . . . 

New York 

New Jersey. , . . 
Pennsylvania. . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

North Carolina. 
South Carolina. 

Georgia 

Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Missouri 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Totals 



Jackson. 



687,502 



Clay. 



33,291 


27,204 


25,486 


19,010 


7,870 


11,152 


14,545 


33,003 


2,126 


2,810 


11,269 


17,755 


168,497 


154,896 


23,856 


23,393 


90,983 


56,716 


4,110 


4,276 


19,156 


19,160 


33,609 


11,451 


24,862 


4,563 


20,750 






5,919 






4,049 


2,528 


36,247 


43,396 


28,740 


1,436 


5,192 






81,246 


76,539 


31,552 


15,472 


14,147 


5,429 



530,189 



55 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



There was some ragged voting for President and much 
more for Vice-President. Jackson received 219 votes in 
the Electoral College to 49 for Clay, 1 1 for Floyd, and 7 for 
Wirt, given by Vermont, and which would have gone to 
Clay had they been needed. South Carolina, under the 
influence of Calhoun, refused to vote for either Jackson or 
Van Buren, but cast the electoral vote for John Floyd, of 
Virginia, for President, and for Henry Lee. of Massachu- 
setts, for Vice-President. Van Buren was not acceptable 
to all the friends of Jackson, as the Pennsylvania Democratic 
Convention positively instructed the electors to vote for 
William Wilkins for Vice-President, which instructions 
were obeyed in the Electoral College, and a convention of 
Jackson men had been held in June, in Charlotteville. Va., 
and nominated P. P. Barbour, of that State, for the Vice- 
Presidency, with Jackson for President. A like convention 
was held, composed of delegates from a number of counties 
in North Carolina, in which Jackson and Barbour were 
nominated, but Barbour did not reach the dignity of support 
in the Electoral College. 

There were no disputes as to the return of the electoral 
colleges, and the vote was declared by Congress as follows : 





President. 


\ 


riCE-PRESIDENT 






s 








> 












- 












= 




. 




r c 








2 


53 


= 




- 
- 


STATE - 




>> 


- 


— 


5 

•- 
- 


D 


- 

£ 




ft 

-' 




- 
— 


- 


> 

— ' 


— 


- 

- 


s 

a 

1 




£ 



- 
- 

5 




* 


u 


: 


F 


> 


-. 

9 


= 


- 


£ 




. 


>> 


- 


r. 


S 


X 


d 


>, 






— 


c 


- 


2 


— 

- 


•— 


— 


c 


g 




< 


K 


— 


St 


% 


: 
—1 


£ 


S 


~r 




10 


— 


— 


— 


10 


— 


— : — 


— 


New Hampshire 


7 


— 


— 


— 


: 


— 


— — 


— 


Vermont . 


— 


14 





' 




14 





. 


Massachusetts 




Rhode Island 


— 


4 


— 


— 


— 


4 


— — 


— 


Connecticut 


— 


8 


— 




— 


- 


— — 


— 


New York 


42 


— 


— 


— 


42 


— 




— 


New Jersev 


- 


— 


— 


— 


8 


— 


— — 


— 


Pennsvlvania 


30 





— 




— 


3 


30 




Delaware 


— 



56 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 





President. 


Vice-President. 




a 








> 












a 








fc 


d 


c 




c 

c 




P 








c 


a) 


Ph 






STATES. 


c 
o 

o 
eg 

•— > 




> 


3 

1 


CI 

u 

W 


Ph 

G 
tS 
43 


en 
g 

1 


■si 

V. 

eg 

o> 

03 


S3 

s 




£ 


O 


o 


a 


> 


<D 


fl 


*3 


w 




U 






_rt 


-M 


c 


.5 




o 




C 








cS 






<u 






< 


X 


o 
*— > 


£ 


£ 


o 
>— > 


£ 


W 


< 




3 


5 








Q 

o 


5 


— 


— 


— 


Virginia 


23 








28 














North Carolina 


15 











15 








— 


— 


South Carolina 


11 


— 


11 


— 


11 


— 


— 


11 





Georgia 


_ 


Alabama 


7 
4 


— 


— 


— 


7 
4 


— 


— 


— 


_ 


Mississippi 




Louisiana 


5 


15 


— 


— 


5 


1 
15 - 


— 




Kentucky 


_ 




15 

21 

9 

5 

4 




— 


— 


15 

21 

9 

5 

4 




— 





Ohio 





Indiana 





Illinois 





Missouri 


_ 






Totals 


219 


49 


11 


7 


189 


49 


30 


11 


7 



Jackson's second administration was even more tempestu- 
ous than the first. His nullification proclamation that 
convulsed the country from centre to circumference, and 
the first " pocket veto " in the history of the country by 
which he had killed the Land bill, were among the later acts 
of his first administration, and entered very largely into the 
bitterness of political dispute that continued during his 
second term. Both were denounced as violent usurpations, 
and it is doubtful whether any but Andrew Jackson could 
have made the record he left on both of those vital issues. 

He had vetoed the recharter of the United States Bank 
during his first term, and supplemented that hostility to the 
institution early in his second term by the removal of the 
Government deposits from -the bank. His Secretary of the 
Treasury, Mr. Duane, resolutely opposed the removal of 
the deposits, but Jackson would not brook opposition, and 
in order to carry out his new financial policy, he accepted 



57 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Duane's resignation and appointed Roger B. Taney, who 
was in accord with the President, and who was finally 
rewarded by his promotion to the Chief Justiceship of the 
United States. 

He had devoted followers in Congress; he was absolute 
master of Congressional action during his second term, and 
he was heartily supported by the great mass of the people, 
a very large portion of whom regarded him as the model 
patriot and the infallible political oracle of the nation. They 
loved his courage and his pugnacity, and as he always was 
the winner, they had every inspiration to rejoice over the 
triumphs of their devotedly worshipped leader. 

Strange as it may seem, the first evidence of the weakness 
of Jackson's popular strength was exhibited in his own 
State of Tennessee, where Hugh L. White, a Senator from 
that State, was nominated to succeed Jackson as President 
by the Tennessee Legislature. Jackson was much disturbed 
by it. When the question was before the Legislatures of 
Alabama and Tennessee, copies of the Washington Globe, 
the organ of the administration, containing severe assaults 
upon Senator White, were franked to the members of those 
Legislatures by the President himself; but notwithstanding 
all Jackson's efforts to make Van Buren his successor, 
Tennessee voted for Judge White by 10,000 majority. 

Upon his retirement from the Presidency in 1837, he 
imitated Washington by a farewell address to the American 
people, that was received by a large majority as second in 
reverence only to the farewell address of Washington. His 
health was feeble when his stormy eight years of Presiden- 
tial rule were ended, and after the inauguration of Van 
Buren he retired to " The Hermitage," his home, near 
Nashville, in Tennessee, where he died on the 8th of June, 
1845- 




MARTIN VAN BUREN 



THE VAN BUREN-HARRISON 
CONTEST 

1836 

The national contest of 1836 that made Martin Van Buren 
President gave birth to a new political organization known 
as the Whig party. The opposition to Jackson agreed only 
in opposing Jackson, but it was not possible to unite on any 
national policy. The strongest organized element of the 
opposition was the anti-Masonic party, that was very 
powerful in the North, but among the opponents of Jackson 
were many who, like Mr. Clay, were Masons of high degree, 
and they could not act with a political party that made 
anti-Masonry one of the cardinal principles of its faith. 

The National Republican party practically perished with 
the defeat of Clay in 1832, and a very large majority of its 
members were not in sympathy with the anti-Masons. 
These conditions led to the organization of the Whig party 
in 1834, and it gradually absorbed all the old National 
Republicans, Federalists, anti-Masons, and all the other 
varied forms of opposition to Jackson. Its name and its 
declaration of principles were declared by a number of lead- 
ing men in 1834, and it gradually developed in strength 
until it was the leading factor in the support of Harrison 
in 1836, and won the election of Harrison by an over- 
whelming majority of both the popular and electoral votes 
in 1840. The Whig party maintained itself as one of the 
ablest political organizations the country has ever had, but 
it was much more noted for its conservative restraints upon 
the Democrats than for the successful establishment of its 
policy in the administration of the Government. It elected 
two Presidents, Harrison and Taylor, but neither seriously 
impressed the policy of the Whig party upon the nation. It 
practically perished in 1852, when it made its last great 

59 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

battle for General Scott for President, and carried but four 
States. 

As the contest of 1836 was approached the various ele- 
ments of opposition to Jackson felt confident that they 
could poll a majority of the popular vote, but there was no 
possibility of their uniting upon any one candidate without 
suffering great loss in their popular following. It was 
decided, therefore, that instead of attempting to unite the 
opposition to Jackson on one candidate, they would support 
several candidates who were particularly strong in their 
respective localities, with the hope that a majority of the 
electors might thus be chosen who would unite in the elec- 
tion of the strongest of the opposition candidates. 

The Democrats were very much disturbed, as signs of 
disintegration were visible to all. Jackson was the most 
potent of any of our retiring Presidents, with the exception 
of Washington, and he dictated Van Buren for the succes- 
sion. Without the omnipotent power of Jackson, Van 
Buren could not have been nominated or elected. Jackson 
had the Democracy thoroughly organized, and he wielded 
all the official power of his administration relentlessly to 
carry out his political aims. There was much hesitation 
about the Democrats accepting a national convention, be- 
cause of the opposition to Van Buren, but Jackson per- 
sonally importuned the leading Democrats to summon a 
convention at an early period, and a convention was finally 
called, to be held in Baltimore on the 20th of May, 1835. 
nearly a year and a half before the Presidential election. 

It was not a representative convention, as although over 
six hundred delegates attended, a majority of them were 
from Maryland alone, but each State was allowed to cast 
the vote corresponding with its representation in Congress. 
Van Buren was nominated unanimously on the 1st ballot, 
and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, was made the 
candidate for Vice-President, receiving 178 votes, with 87 
cast for William C. Rives, of Virginia. The two-thirds 
rule was reaffirmed in the convention, and even after John- 
son had been nominated under the rule Virginia 
to approve the action of the convention pre.' im as 

the candidate for Vice-President. No platforr jdor 

and no address was issued by the body to the peo 
country. 

The prominent candidates presented in < )sitioi 

60 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Van Buren were General William H. Harrison and Judge 
John McLean, of Ohio ; Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, 
and Judge Hugh L. White, of Tennessee. Willie P. 
Mangum, who received the electoral vote of South Carolina 
chosen by the Legislature, was not a candidate before the 
people, and it is remarkable that South Carolina, at war 
with Jackson on the right of nullification, cast her electoral 
vote for Mangum, who was one of the leaders of the Whig 
party and afterward distinguished as a Whig United States 
Senator. 

No attempt was made to bring these opposing opposition 
elements together. Harrison was first nominated at Harris- 
burg, Penn., by two State conventions, both meeting osten- 
sibly as anti-Masons, the one being Democratic and the other 
inclining to the new Whig organization, and he was also 
presented by Legislatures and mass-meetings in other 
States. Webster was nominated by the Whig Legislature 
of Massachusetts, and Judge White was nominated by the 
Legislatures of Tennessee and Alabama, and by mass- 
meetings in different sections of the South. He was then 
a United States Senator from Tennessee, but at war with 
Jackson, and he was confessedly the strongest opponent of 
Jackson in the entire South. The fact that he could com- 
mand a nomination from the Democratic Legislature of 
Tennessee while Jackson was President is the best evidence 
of his exceptional popularity with the people, and it was 
proved also by him carrying the electoral vote of the State 
over Van Buren by a decided majority. Judge McLean 
gradually dropped out of the fight, as he was from Harrison's 
State, and Harrison soon developed as much the strongest 
candidate of the entire opposition competitors. 

The contest was one of intense bitterness. There were 
no conflicting opposition tickets run against Van Buren. 
In States where White was strongest the opposition united 
on White electoral tickets, where Harrison was strongest 
they united on Harrison electoral tickets, and where 
Webster was strongest they united on Webster electoral 
tickets. The campaign was thus shrewdly managed by the 
opposition, and it gave some promise of success, as if a 
majority of the electoral votes had been chosen against 
Van Buren, they would doubtless have been united upon 
one candidate before the time for meeting of the electoral 
colleges. In Clay's State the battle was made for Harrison 

61 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



with him in the forefront of the fight, and Harrison carried 
the State by a safe majority. 

The defamation of the contest of 1836 was equal to any 
of the malignant contests of the early days of the Republic. 
Van Buren, Harrison, White, and Webster were most 
vindictively assailed, and their public and private lives 
criticised far beyond the lines of decent disputation. Van 
Buren was proclaimed the mere puppet of Jackson ; Harri- 
son was denounced as a failure in field and forum, where 
he had been General, Governor, and Senator; Webster was 
defamed as an old blue-light Federalist, and White was 
assailed in the South as an ingrate who had sacrificed his 
self-respect to ambition. 

There were twenty-six States to participate in the election 
of 1836. Arkansas had come into the Union on the 15th 
of June, and Michigan, where electors were chosen before 
the admission of the State, was formally admitted into the 
Union on the 26th of January, 1837, before the electoral 
count took place in Congress, and the precedent in the 
Missouri case in 1821 settled the right of Michigan ' to 
participate in the election. In all of the States, with the 
single exception of South Carolina, the electors were chosen 
by popular vote and by general ticket. The following was 
the popular vote as returned for the several candidates, 
taking the vote of the opposition electors chosen as an 
indication of the choice of their respective States : 



STATES. 


Van Buren. 


Harrison. 


White. 


Webster. 


Maine 


22,990 
18,722 
14,039 
34,474 

2,964 

19,291 

166,815 

25,592 

91,475 

4,153 
22,168 
30,261 
26,910 


15,239 

6,228 

20,996 






Vermont 














42,247 


Rhode Island. . 


2,710 

18,749 

138,543 

26,137 

87,111 

4,733 
25,852 




Connecticut 






New York 












Pen ncvl van ia 






Delaware 






Virginia. 

North Carolina 

South Carolina* 

Georgia 






23,468 
23,626 












22,104 




24,876 











* Chosen by the Legislature. 
62 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



STATES. 


Van Buren. 


Harrison. 


White. 


Webster. 


Alabama. . 


20,506 

9,979 

3,653 

2,400 

33,025 

26,129 

10,995 

96,948 

32,478 

17,275 

7,332 




15,612 
9,688 
3,383 
1,238 




Mississippi 






Louisiana . 






Arkansas 






Kentucky 


36,687 




Tennessee 


36,168 
7,337 




Missouri 






Ohio. 


105,404 

41,281 

14,292 

4,045 




Indiana.. 






Illinois 






Michigan 












Totals 


762,678 


548,007 


145,396 


42,247 







As Van Buren was successful, not only by a small popular 
majority, but by a clear majority of the electoral vote, no 
effort was necessary to unite the opposition electoral col- 
leges, and they divided their votes between Harrison, 
White, and Webster, according to the preferences of the 
respective States. Virginia refused to give her electoral 
vote to Johnson for Vice-President, and that left him 
without an election, as he had not a majority of the whole 
Electoral College. He was, however, promptly elected by 
the Senate, receiving 33 votes to 16 for Francis Granger. 
He was the only Vice-President in the history of the 
Republic who was not elected by the Electoral College. 
When Adams, Jackson, Crawford, and Clay ran in 1824, 
and there was no choice for President in the Electoral 
College, John C. Calhoun received a decided majority in the 
college and was elected without an appeal to the Senate. 
The following is the vote as cast for President and Vice- 
President in the electoral colleges : 



OUR PRESIDENTS 





President. 


Vice-Preside> 


rr. 




> 


c 






-J 


>> 










Z 


a 






z 


u 


> 






STATES. 


2 


u 
u 






5 


o 

■x. 

c 






- 
< 




3 
£2 


X 


0/ 

2 


o 


bo 

G 



•— 1 


o 

bo 

c 


? 


& 




a 

> 

c 
SI 


- 
s 


hi 

be 


o 

fit 

• 


5 


■d 

oS 
y 


c3 
u 

O 
X 

'3 

c 


S-" 


99 




§ 


1 


S 





* 


:* 


- 


""■• 


> 


Maine 


10 

7 


— 


— 


— 




10 

7 


— 


— 




New Hampshire .... 





Vermont 




i 


— 


14 




— 


7 
14 


— 





Massachusetts 





Rhode Island 


4 


— 


— 


— 




4 


— 


— 





Connecticut 


8 
42 


8 


— 


— 


— 


8 
.42 


~8 


~ 




New York 




New Jersey 





Pennsylvania 


30 


— 


— 


— 


— 


30 


— 


— 


'— 


Delaware 





3 

10 


— 







— 


3 


10 










Virginia 


8M 























23 


North Carolina 


15 


— 


— 


— 


— 


15 


— 


— 




South Carolina 


— 


— 


— 


— 


11 


— 


— 


n 


— 


Georgia 


— 


— 


11 


— 


— 


— 


— 


li 


. — 


Alabama 


7 

4 


— 


— 


— 


— 


7 
4 


— 


— 





Mississippi 





Louisiana 


5 
3 




15 


— 


— 


— 


5 
3 


15 


— 





Arkansas ........... 





Kentucky 





Tennessee 


4 




15 






4 


— 


15 







— 


Ohio 


5 
3 


21 
9 


— 






5 

3 


31 

9 




— 


Indiana 





Illinois 





Michigan 









Totals 


170 


73 


26 


14 

! 


li 


147 


■ i 


47 


23 








WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 




\i 



\^J^6ju^^ 



UtOj 



THE HARRISON-VAN BUREN CONTEST 

1840 

Memorable as was the campaign of 1840 that called Gen- 
eral Harrison to the Presidency by a popular whirlwind, the 
thoughtful student of American politics will regard that 
campaign as even more memorable because it gave birth to a 
party, of the humblest pretensions at the start as a political 
power, that twenty years later saw its principles triumph in 
the election of Lincoln, and the mastery of the party that 
has controlled the policy of the Government for forty years. 
The Abolition D arty v that was the corner-stone upon which 
the modern Republican party is reared, was organized in 
December, 1839, at Warsaw, Genesee County, N. Y., when, 
at a mass convention, with but few States represented, it 
nominated James G. Birney, of New York, for President, 
and Francis G. Lemoyne, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

This party had but one vital principle that made up its 
political faith, and that was the abolition of slavery. It was 
looked upon as a movement of a few political cranks, and 
was not regarded as a possible factor in that or any future 
political contest. It cast a few votes in 1840, but in 1844 it 
diverted enough votes from Henry Clay in New York State 
to defeat him for the Presidency. Its total vote in 1840 
aggregated only 7069, one-third of which was cast in New 
York and one- fourth in Massachusetts ; but it was the party 
of destiny, and its origin can be studied with profit. Its few 
supporters of that day who braved the prejudices of all 
parties were actuated by a sincere conviction, and that con- 
viction was made more and more acceptable from year to 
year as the aggressions of slavery multiplied, until it finally 
died a colossal suicide. 

The divided opposition elements which had polled within 
30,000 of the vote received by Van Buren in 1836 were 

65 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

coerced by supreme necessities to united action for the cam- 
paign of 1840. But three candidates were prominently dis- 
cussed. They were General William H. Harrison of Ohio, 
Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Winfield Scott of Virginia. 
Clay was much the ablest of them, and had the most enthusi- 
astic and earnest friends, but the old anti-Masonic element 
crucified Clay in the Whig convention of 1839, just as 
Seward was crucified in the convention of i860 by the 
American sentiment that was an indispensable factor to 
enable the Republicans to win. Clay was a Royal Arch 
Mason, and he would doubtless have lost largely in the rank 
and file of the anti-Masons, who had been educated in the 
fiercest strife of political contests to believe that Masonry 
was incompatible with patriotism. 

Harrison had been Governor of the Indiana Territory, 
Senator in Congress and a successful general, having won 
a decisive victory over the English and the Indians at Tippe- 
canoe. Scott was green with the laurels of Chippewa and 
Lundy's Lane, and was regarded as the first soldier of the 
Republic. One thing strongly in Harrison's favor was the 
fact that in the free-for-all race of 1836 he had largely out- 
stripped his anti-Jackson associate candidates for President. 

The Whig National Convention was called to meet at 
Harrisburg on the 4th of December, 1839, just one year be- 
fore the Presidential election, and no national convention in 
the history of our politics ever moved with such extreme 
caution. It was three days after the convention was organ- 
ized before a ballot was reached for President, the whole 
time having been occupied in formal conferences of com- 
mittees appointed by each delegation to confer in the frank- 
est way as to the best ticket to unite the incongruous opposi- 
tion elements. Clay had made exhaustive effort to unite the 
opposition, even if necessary to sacrifice himself. On re- 
peated occasions he publicly declared that his name should 
not be entertained if it was in any degree an obstacle to suc- 
cess, and in a Buffalo address delivered some time before the 
convention met, he said : " If my name creates any obstacle 
to union and harmony, away with it, and concentrate upon 
some individual more acceptable to all branches of the 
office." 

A Union Pennsylvania convention had been held in Har- 
risburg in September, embracing representatives of the old 
National Republicans, anti-Masons, and Whigs. It was 

66 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

largely planned and carried out by Thaddeus Stevens, whose 
violent anti-Masonic convictions made him the opponent of 
Clay, and that convention, while highly complimenting Clay, 
declared that General Harrison was the most available of all 
the candidates named for President. Governor Barbour, of 
Virginia, presided over the national convention, and instead 
of proceeding to ballot for candidates, the convention, after 
careful consideration, decided that the delegations from the 
different States should confer with each other, through sub- 
committees, and if possible reach a conclusion as to the best 
nomination and report to the convention. 

While there is no official record of the action of these 
committees, it is known that at the start more favored Clay 
than any of the two other candidates, as one of the known 
facts relating to their action gave Clay 103 votes to 94 for 
Harrison and 57 for Scott. This vote is based on the 
assumption that the entire delegation of each State would 
vote in harmony with its committee, as the resolution under 
which the committees were appointed provided that " each 
State represented shall vote its full electoral vote by such 
delegation in the committee." After three days of confer- 
ence, the joint committees reported to the convention that 
they had decided in favor of Harrison by a vote of 148 to 90 
for Clay and 16 for Scott. 

On the following day the convention accepted the report 
of the committees by adopting a resolution declaring General 
Harrison the candidate of the convention, and it was unan- 
imously approved amidst great enthusiasm. The friends of 
Clay gave very prompt and cordial support to the action 
of the convention, and the friends of Harrison proved their 
appreciation of the magnanimity of Clay's friends by unani- 
mously nominating John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice-Presi- 
dent, who was the leader of the Clay forces in the convention. 
No platform or expression of principles was given in any 
manner. Indeed, none of the political questions of the day 
diverted the convention at any time from the supreme pur- 
pose of uniting the opposition to Van Buren on a single 
ticket. 

It was the vote of Virginia that finally decided the question 
of making Harrison the candidate of the convention. The 
three prominent candidates were all sons of Virginia, and 
had Clay been available he would doubtless have been pre- 
ferred. A very earnest effort was made to force the nomina- 

67 



\ 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

tion of General Scott when Clay was conceded to be unavail- 
able, and the Virginia delegates long hesitated in making a 
choice between Harrison and Scott. Both were of Old Do- 
minion birth, and the pride of the Mother of Presidents 
would have been gratified with the nomination of either. 

It was at this stage of the contest that Thaddeus Stevens, 
who was the leading delegate from Pennsylvania, con- 
trolled the Virginia delegation by a scheme that was more 
effective than creditable. Scott, who was quite too fond of 
writing letters, had written a letter to Francis Granger, of 
New York, in which he evidently sought to conciliate the 
antislavery sentiment of that State. It was a private letter, 
but Granger exhibited it to Stevens and permitted Stevens 
to use it in his own way. As the headquarters of the Vir- 
ginia delegation were the centre of attraction, they were 
always crowded, and Stevens called there along with many 
others. Before leaving he dropped the Scott letter on the 
floor, and it was soon discovered and its contents made 
known to the Virginians. That letter decided the Virginians 
to support Harrison and to reject Scott. Either could have 
been elected if nominated, as the Van Buren defeat of 1840 
was one of the most sweeping political hurricanes in the his- 
tory of the country. 

My authority for this is Mr. Stevens himself. He disliked 
Scott on general principles through his great aversion to all 
men whose vanity was conspicuous, but he had a much 
stronger reason for nominating Harrison in his possession 
of an autograph letter from General Harrison, assuring 
Stevens that if he, Harrison, was elected President, Stevens 
would be a member of his Cabinet. After the election Ste- 
vens said nothing and made no movement to make himself 
prominent as a candidate for the Cabinet, as he felt entirely 
secure, while Josiah Randall, father of the late Samuel J. 
Randall, and then a prominent Whig, and Charles B. Pen- 
rose, grandfather of the present United States Senator Pen- 
rose, entered the field aggressively as candidates for a Cab- 
inet portfolio. When the Cabinet was announced, Stevens 
was dumbfounded to find his name omitted. He never for- 
gave Webster, who was made the head of the Cabinet, for the 
failure, and he believed until the day of his death that Web- 
ster had prevented his appointment. 

There was much dissatisfaction with the Van Buren ad- 
ministration. The severe business and industrial depression 

68 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

which came upon the country about the middle of Van 
Buren's term was very disastrous, and the financial troubles 
were largely charged to the arbitrary financial system intro- 
duced by Jackson and maintained by Van Buren. Labor was 
largely unemployed and business was paralyzed. So grave 
were the financial disturbances that several of the States 
were swept from their honest moorings by the cheap money 
craze, and irresponsible banks were created almost without 
limit or restraint, all of which brought speedy and fearful 
disaster to the people. 

A large portion of the Democratic party had not at any 
time heartily favored Van Buren, and only their devotion to 
Jackson made them accept Van Buren as their candidate. 
The Democratic leaders of a number of the States openly 
declared that they would not participate in the national con- 
vention. A convention was finally called, and met in Balti- 
more on the 5th of May, 1840, with Connecticut, Delaware, 
Virginia, South Carolina, and Illinois not represented, while 
some of the other States had but one or two delegates. Gov- 
ernor William Carroll, of Tennessee, presided over the con- 
vention, and Van Buren was renominated by the adoption of 
a resolution declaring that as he was the unanimous choice 
of the party and the convention, " he should be presented as 
the Democratic candidate for the office of President." An- 
other resolution, offered at the same time and by the same 
man, Mr. Clay, of Alabama, was as follows : " That the con- 
vention deem it expedient at the present time not to choose 
between the individuals in nomination, but to leave the de- 
cision to their Republican Democratic fellow-citizens in the 
several States, trusting that before the election shall take 
place their opinions shall become so concentrated as to secure 
the choice of a Vice-President by the electoral colleges. ,, 

There was positive opposition to the election of Vice- 
President Johnson in 1836, as was shown by his failure to 
command a majority of the electoral votes, while Van Buren 
was elected President, and that opposition seems to have 
increased rather than diminished. There was much discus- 
sion in the convention after it had unanimously adopted the 
first resolution declaring Van Buren the candidate for Presi- 
dent as to what action the convention should take on the 
Vice-Presidency, and finally the resolution before quoted was 
unanimously adopted, leaving the party without a formally 
nominated candidate for the second place on the ticket. 

69 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

This convention for the first time presented a national 
party platform as follows : 

i. Resolved, That the Federal Government is one of limited 
powers derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power 
shown therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments 
and agents of the Government, and that it is inexpedient and dan- 
gerous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers. 

2. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer upon the Gen- 
eral Government the power to commence and carry on a general 
system of internal improvement. 

3. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer authority upon 
the Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts 
of the several States, contracted for local internal improvements, 
or other State purposes; nor would such assumption be just or 
expedient. 

4. Resolved, That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal 
Government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of 
another, or to cherish the interest of one portion to the injury of 
another portion of our common country ; that every citizen and 
every section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon 
an equality of rights and privileges, and to complete an ample 
protection of person and property from domestic violence or foreign 
aggression. 

5. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the Govern- 
ment to enforce and practise the most rigid economy in conducting 
our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised 
than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the Govern- 
ment. 

6. Resolved, That Congress has no power to charter a United 
States Bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hos- 
tility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to our Repub- 
lican institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to 
place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated 
money power, and above the laws and the will of the people. 

7. Resolved, That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, 
to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several 
States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of every- 
thing appertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by the Con- 
stitution; that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others, made to in- 
duce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take in- 
cipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most 
alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have 
an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and 
endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not 
to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions. 

8. Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the Govern- 
ment from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the 
funds of the Government and the rights of the people. 

9. Resolved, That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson 
in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Consti- 
tution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the 
oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the 

70 




JOHN TYLER 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Democratic faith ; and every attempt to abridge the present privilege 
of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us ought to be 
resisted with the same spirit which swept the Alien and Sedition 
laws from our statute book. 

The campaign of 1840 was the most unique of our political 
history. The Democrats, in attempting to belittle General 
Harrison, declared that he lived in a " log cabin" and drank 
hard cider. Instead of resenting these expressions, intended 
to prejudice the public against the Whig candidate, the 
Whigs at once took up the log cabin as one of the great 
illustrative features of the contest, and when the battle 
reached its zenith, and the people gathered by thousands at 
the mass-meetings, the log cabin was always in the proces- 
sion as the symbol of the simplicity of the party candidate 
for President. It was a campaign of speeches and songs, 
and it developed a new class of campaign orators, of which 
the then celebrated and long after well-known Buckeye 
Blacksmith was a type. 

It was the first national campaign in which the masses of 
the people took intense interest, and alike in the cities of the 
East, the prairies of the West, and the savannas of the 
South the people were singing and shouting for " Tippe- 
canoe and Tyler, too." The Whig campaign culminated in 
a tempest against the Democrats, and resulted in the over- 
whelming defeat of Van Buren, and General Harrison cer- 
tainly contributed largely to the result by taking the stump 
in Ohio in September and October, to vindicate himself 
against the accusations made that he was a mere puppet in 
the hands of political leaders and unable to speak for him- 
self. The following was the popular vote for Harrison and 
Van Buren : 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . . 
Rhode Island . . . 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Delaware 



Harrison. 



46,612 
26,163 
32,440 

72,874 

5,278 

31,601 

225,817 

33,351 

144,021 

5,967 



Van Buren. 



46,201 
32,761 
18,018 
51,944 
3,301 
25,296 

212,527 
31,034 

143,672 
4,874 



Birney. 



194 

126 

319 

1,621 

42 

174 

2,808 

69 
343 



71 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



STATES. 



Maryland 

Virginia 

North Carolina. . 
South Carolina*. 

Georgia 

Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Missouri 

Arkansas 

Ohio 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Michigan 

Totals 



Harrison. 



33,528 
42,501 
46,376 



40,261 
28,471 
19,518 
11,296 
58,489 
60,391 
22,972 
5,160 
148,157 
65,302 
45,537 
22,933 



1,275,016 



Van Buren. 



28,752 
43,893 
33,782 

31,921 
33,991 
16,995 

7,616 
32,616 
48,289 
29,760 

6,766 

124,782 

51,604 

47,476 

21,131 



1,129,102 



Birney. 



903 



149 
321 



7,069 



* Chosen by Legislature. 



There was nothing to quibble about in declaring the count 
in Congress, as Harrison had nearly three-fourths of the 
electoral vote, with a very large popular majority. While the 
Democrats had not nominated any candidate for Vice-Presi- 
dent, and as a division of the vote would be of little conse- 
quence, the Democratic electors generally voted for Vice- 
President Johnson for re-election. Virginia, that cast a solid 
vote against him four years before, gave him 22 of the 23 
votes, and South Carolina, while voting for Van Buren, gave 
its 11 votes to L. W. Tazewell, of Virginia, for Vice-Presi- 
dent, leaving Johnson with only 48 of the 294 electoral votes. 

The following is the vote as cast in the electoral colleges : 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 





President. 


Vice-President. 


STATES. 


6 

o 

rt 

o 

03 

'C 
U 

C« 

w 


Martin Van Buren, N. Y. 


> 

u 

% 

Eh 

PI 
Xi 

o 

•— 1 


M 

rt" 

o 

09 

rt 
rrt 
o 
•—I 


> 


rt" 

rt 

ft 
M 

V 

s 

rt 
•— > 


Maine 


10 

7 
14 

4 

8 
42 

8 
30 

3 
10 

15 

11 

4 
5 

15 
15 

21 
9 

3 


7 

23 

11 

7 

4 
3 

5 


10 

7 
14 

4 

8 
42 

8 
30 

3 
10 

15 

11 

4 
5 

15 
15 

21 
9 

3 


7 

22 

7 

4 
3 

5 


11 




New Hampshire 




Vermont 




Massachusetts 


^^ 


Rhode Island 




Connecticut 




New York 




New Tersev 




Pennsylvania 




Delaware 




Maryland 




Virginia 


1 


North Carolina 




South Carolina 




Georgia 




Alabama 




Mississippi 




Louisiana 




Kentucky 




Tennessee 




Missouri 




Arkansas 




Ohio 




Indiana 




Illinois 




Michigan , 








Totals 


234 


60 


234 


48 


11 


1 







Harrison was in feeble health when he was called from the 
clerkship of the Cincinnati courts, that he had held for many- 
years, to the highest civil trust of the world, and the intense 
pressure upon him after his election so impaired his vitality 
that he died a little more than a month after his inauguration. 
Harrison's death was the first break in the Presidency since 

73 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

the organization of the Government. John Tyler was Vice- 
President, and was living quietly on his farm on the Virginia 
Peninsula. He could not be reached by railways, and tele- 
graphs were unknown. He had no knowledge that he had 
become President through the death of Harrison until late 
the next day, when Webster and another member of the 
Cabinet finally found their way to his home, partly by water 
and partly overland, and formally announced to him the 
death of the President and the new duties which devolved 
upon him. He hastened to Washington to find a very grave 
dispute among the leading statesmen of both parties as to 
whether he became President or simply Acting President. 
It was important to determine whether he was President 
with the full title. The question was brought up in Con- 
gress, and in the midst of a discussion on the subject a mes- 
sage was received from the Executive Mansion signed 
" John Tyler, President." The dispute was at once ended, 
and the question settled for all time. 




JAMES K. POLK 



THE POLK-CLAY CONTEST 

1844 

President Tyler wrecked the Whig party and defeated 
Henry Clay for President in 1844. The Whigs had carried 
a majority in both Senate and House in the Harrison sweep 
of 1840, and they confidently expected that the Whig policy 
of a national bank to take the place of the bungling Sub- 
Treasury, of aid to public improvements, and of a protective 
tariff to stimulate our industries, would inaugurate a Whig 
political system that could be permanently maintained by 
the American people. President Harrison died only a little 
more than a month after he had been inaugurated. He was 
the oldest President at the time of his inauguration that the 
country has had, either before or since, and he was physi- 
cally unequal to the severe exactions put upon him by the 
clamor for political positions. Civil service reform had 
then no part in the politics of the country, and as Jackson 
and Van Buren had been vindictively proscriptive in Federal 
appointments, it was logically expected that there would be 
a general removal of the Van Buren favorites. Harrison 
exhausted his vitality by trying to meet his friends and 
confer with them about political appointments, in addition 
to the important questions of State which demanded his 
attention, and he literally wore himself out and died from 
exhaustion. 

John Tyler, who had been one of the most ardent of the 
Clay Whigs, was confidently expected to maintain the policy 
of Harrison. The public measures advocated by Clay were 
well understood by all, and it was reasonable to assume that 
Tyler, who had been long one of his most earnest supporters, 
was in entire accord with his chief. A special session of 
Congress was summoned to meet on the 31st of May, 1841, 
and the Whigs expected to carry all their political theories 
into practical effect by national statutes at an early day. 

75 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

To the surprise of some of the leaders, President Tyler 
exhibited some measure of unsoundness on the question of 
the United States Bank, but after repeated conferences 
with him they believed that they could frame a bill that 
would entirely meet his views and command his approval. 
The bill was passed by a decided majority in both branches, 
and the Whigs were dumbfounded by a prompt veto from 
the President. Other conferences followed, and a new bill 
was framed, to which the President assented, and although 
it was passed without amendment, another veto followed. 
The first veto of the Bank bill brought out very angry 
criticisms from a number of the Whig leaders, and one 
of the most earnest and aggressive of Tyler's critics was 
John Minor Botts, then a Whig Congressman from Vir- 
ginia, and one of the most brilliant and erratic of the Whig 
leaders of his day. It was believed that the irritation of the 
President, caused by the criticisms of leading Whigs, finally 
decided the President to veto the second Bank bill. 

Thus the Whigs were defeated in one of the cardinal 
measures of their faith. The Whig Senators and Repre- 
sentatives met in caucus and published an address to the 
country, in which it was declared that " those who brought 
the President into power can no longer in any manner or 
degree be justly held responsible or blamed for the adminis- 
tration of the Executive branch of the Government." Thus 
the Whig power was broken and demoralized at the very 
threshold of its existence, and the chasm between the Whig 
Senate and House, on the one side, and the President, on 
the other, steadily widened and deepened until it was 
admittedly impassable. 

President Tyler's political antecedents offer some excuse 
for his failure to approve the national bank. He opposed 
Jackson, as did many other able men in the South, because 
Jackson had violated the strict construction policy of South- 
ern leaders, especially in his aggressive warfare against 
nullification, and one trained in the school of strict con- 
struction of the supreme law could readily find excuse for 
withholding his approval from the United States Bank. 
The same principle applied to internal improvements by the 
Government, and could have been applied to forbid a pro- 
tective tariff. The only fruit the Whigs gathered from 
their great triumph of 1840 was the protective tariff of 
1842, that became so popular, especially in the North, that 

-6 



AND HOW. WE MAKE THEM 

many Democrats who supported Polk in 1844 declared that 
they favored the tariff of 1842, and that it could not be 
disturbed if Polk were elected. In Pennsylvania it was 
common to see in Democratic processions banners bearing 
the inscription of " Polk-Dallas-Shunk and the Tariff of 
1842," and a letter received by Judge Kane, of Philadelphia, 
from Mr. Polk during the campaign was interpreted, and 
plausibly interpreted, as meaning an -approval of the then 
existing tariff. The Whigs, defeated in all their other 
important measures, were sadly crippled in the campaign 
for the succession, and even the tariff of 1842 was repealed 
for a moderate free-trade tariff in 1846. 

President Tyler had provoked the earnest and generally 
vindictive hostility of the Whigs without having made 
friends with the Democrats. They loved and cheered his 
apostasy, but gave no love or individual support to the 
apostate. He confidently expected that they would make him 
the Democratic candidate for President in 1844, and that 
delusion was cherished by him until the Democratic National 
Convention met in Baltimore to nominate national candi- 
dates. It was attended by a very large number of office- 
holders and other friends of Tyler. Finding that they 
could not command any support for their favorite in the 
convention, they improvised a national convention of their 
own on the same day that the Democratic convention met, 
and unanimously nominated Tyler for President without 
naming any candidate for Vice-President. The movement 
had no vitality, as there was no response from either the 
press or the public, and on the 20th of August Tyler wrote 
an elaborate and reproachful letter, withdrawing his name 
from the list of Presidential candidates. 

When his term ended he lived in retirement on his 
Virginia farm, unknown and unfelt as a political factor. 
He was among the almost forgotten men of the past when, 
half a generation later, he appeared in Washington as a 
member of the Peace Convention that was called in 1861 
to devise some measures to prevent a civil war, that he did 
not live to see fulfil its bloody mission. 

When Van Buren was defeated for re-election to the 
Presidency in 1840, his friends imitated the Jackson tactics 
of 1825 by at once renominating him by mass-meetings and 
through Democratic newspapers as the Democratic candi- 
date for President in 1844, and a decided majority of the 

77 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

delegates to the national convention were either instructed 
for Van Buren or elected as his friends. Calhoun was 
favored by the Democrats of South Carolina and Georgia, 
and ex-Yice-President Johnson was an energetic candidate 
for the nomination, with General Cass, of Michigan, as the 
man who was looked to as most likely to concentrate the 
opposition to Van Buren. Van Buren was in the attitude 
before the Democratic National Convention of 1844 that 
Seward was before the Chicago Republican Convention of 
i860. A decided majority of the delegates desired his 
nomination, but many of them believed that Clay would 
defeat him, and they were quite willing to reaffirm the 
two-thirds rule, even against the earnest protest of Van 
Buren's most faithful leaders, because it was well known 
that he never could attain the two-thirds vote of the con- 
vention. 

Van Buren was regarded as a most accomplished and 
rather an unscrupulous politician. He was certainly a 
brilliant political leader, a very sagacious counsellor, and 
believed in shaping the policy of the party chiefly or wholly 
with the view of success ; but a short time before the meeting 
of the national convention he made one of the boldest 
political deliverances of his life against the annexation of 
Texas, and he did it with the knowledge that the Democrats 
of the South were practically united in the support of 
annexation, with a very large proportion of the Northern 
Democrats in harmony with it. In the month of May letters 
were given to the public from both Van Buren and Clay, 
opposing the annexation of Texas at that time as inexpedi- 
ent, because it would mean war with Mexico, unless annexed 
with the consent of that nation. Clay's letter did not 
strengthen him in the South, but certainly strengthened him 
in the North, and should have prevented the Abolition vote 
in New York from sacrificing Clay and electing an ardent 
supporter of the annexation of Texas with its slave Consti- 
tution, and under a treaty that permitted its subdivision 
into four new States, each of which would increase the slave 
power in the Senate. 

Yan Buren's letter was made public just about one 
month before the meeting of the Democratic National Con- 
vention, and it was severely criticised by Southern news- 
papers and Democratic leaders generally, and with great 
severity* by those who desired his defeat. The Richmond 

78 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Enquirer, then one of the ablest and most influential of the 
Democratic organs of the country, edited by Mr. Ritchie, 
demanded that the instructions which had been given to 
the Virginia delegates to support Van Buren should be 
rescinded. In some instances delegates did disobey Van 
Buren instructions and others resigned rather than sup- 
port him. 

The convention met in Baltimore on the 27th of May, 
South Carolina being the only State not represented. The 
first important movement made in the body after its organi- 
zation was the readoption of the two-thirds rule, which all 
understood meant the defeat of Van Buren, notwithstanding 
that a majority of the delegates would vote for him. The 
sincere and earnest friends of Van Buren battled earnestly 
against the adoption of the rule, but it finally prevailed by 
a vote of 148 to 118, and a large majority of the votes in 
favor of the rule were cast by Southern delegates. It was 
claimed by his friends, and I doubt not with reason, that 
had the delegates in the convention voted as they had been 
instructed to vote, Van Buren would have received within 
a very few votes of the necessary two-thirds to make a 
nomination on the 1st ballot. 

The convention was anything but harmonious, and stormy 
debates were common from N the beginning to the end of the 
proceedings of the convention. Finally the convention 
reached the ballot for President, and Van Buren received 
on the 1st ballot 146 votes to 120 for all others, giving 
him a clear majority of 26 of the whole convention, but 
under the two-thirds rule it required 178 to nominate him. 
The following table shows the nine ballots in detail, the 
last resulting in the nomination of James K. Polk, of Ten- 
nessee : 





1st. 


2d. 


3d. 


4th. 


5th. 


6th. 


7th. 


8th. 


9th. 


M. Van Buren, N. Y.. 


146 


127 


121 


Ill 


103 


101 


99 


104 


2 




83 


94 


92 


105 


107 


116 


123 


114 


29 


R. M. Johnson, Ky. . . 


24 


33 


38 


32 


29 


23 


21 


— 


— 


J. Buchanan, Pa 


4 


9 


11 


17 


26 


25 


22 


2 


— 


L. Woodbury, N. H.. 


2 


1 


2 














Com. Stewart, Pa. . . . 


1 


1 
















J. C. Calhoun, S. C... 


6 


1 


2 


— 


— 


— 


— 


2 


— 


J. K. Polk, Tenn. 

-» * ■■ ' — * — ~ — 
















44 


233 



79 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Mr. Polk was the first " dark-horse" candidate ever 
nominated by any hopeful party for the Presidency. He 
had not been discussed as a candidate for President, but 
had been pressed by some of his political friends as a 
candidate for the Vice-Presidency. He had been long in 
Congress, was distinguished for his ability and impartiality 
as Speaker of the House, and had been elected Governor 
of his State in 1841, but had been defeated in the contest 
for re-election in 1843, oru y one }" ear before his nomination 
for President. Although his nomination for President 
seemed to be a spontaneous movement of the convention 
to rescue the party from its bitter factional feuds and the 
wrangling ambitions of its leaders, there is little doubt 
that the slavery managers of the South would be satisfied 
with none other than a positive Texas annexationist, and 
secretly but systematically prepared a number of the dele- 
gates to accept Polk as a compromise when the conven- 
tion should come to a deadlock on the other candidates. 
Polk was heralded as the special friend and protege of 
Jackson, who was yet living, and those who paved the way 
for his nomination had very plausible arguments to offer, 
especially to Southern men, with whom the slavery issue 
had become vital. However the nomination of Polk may 
have been organized, it had all the appearance of a spon- 
taneous stampede in the convention. He had only 44 votes 
on the 8th ballot, the first in which his name appears. 
While the 9th ballot was in progress the delegates began to 
change their votes to Polk, and the result was that before 
its close the chairmen of delegations were jostling each 
other to get their votes recorded early for the successful 
candidate. The Morse experimental telegraph line had just 
been completed between Washington and Baltimore, and 
the Democratic leaders at Washington were advised by 
telegraph of Polk's nomination, to which a congratulatory 
response was promptly given. 

Although the Van Buren men had finally voted for Polk, 
preferring him to any of the candidates who had aggres- 
sively opposed the success of Van Buren, they were pro- 
foundly grieved at Van Buren's defeat. They believed that 
slavery had crucified Van Buren, and it was their purpose, 
during the fjush of their anger, to allow Polk to suffer 
a humiliating disaster. The friends of Polk well understood 
the deep disaffection that would confront them among the 

80 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

friends of Van Buren, and they adopted the very shrewd 
policy of taking Van Buren's ablest lieutenant as the can- 
didate for Vice-President. Silas Wright, of New York, 
Van Buren's own State, was then one of the ablest of the 
Democratic Senators of that day, and a most zealous sup- 
porter of Van Buren. He was nominated for Vice-President 
by practically a unanimous vote, only eight of the Georgia 
delegates preferring Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire. 
Mr. Wright, being in the Senate at Washington, was at 
once informed by telegraph of his nomination, but smarting 
under what he believed to be the betrayal of Van Buren, he 
promptly sent a curt and peremptory declination back on the 
wire. Had there been no electric telegraph, Mr. Wright 
would have accepted the nomination for Vice-President and 
been elected to that position, but the success of Morse's 
great invention, that had been completed between Washing- 
ton and Baltimore only a few days before the convention 
met, changed his political destiny. 

After mature reflection the friends of Van Buren were 
brought to terms by the Democratic leaders in the interest 
of Polk, and they decided to give a cordial support to the 
national ticket, but New York was regarded as certain to 
vote against Polk unless some extraordinary measures were 
adopted to save it. It was finally decided that only by 
nominating Senator Wright for Governor could the vote 
of the State be assured to Polk, and the man who had 
declined the Vice-Presidency that was within his reach, 
because he expected and really desired the ticket to be 
defeated, was compelled to resign his seat in the Senate 
to accept the Democratic nomination for Governor of New 
York. He was admittedly the strongest man in the party, 
and it was that nomination that saved the Democrats of 
New York from demoralization and made Mr. Polk Presi- 
dent. 

Two years later Wright suffered a humiliating defeat in 
a contest for re-election, and thus ended a political career 
that should have been rounded out in the second office of the 
Government. Jackson was made President because there 
were no steamers, cables, or telegraphs to advise him on the 
8th of January, 1815, when he fought and won the battle 
of New Orleans, that peace had been declared between the 
two nations a fortnight before, and Silas Wright lost the 
Vice-Presidency and ended his political career in disaster 

81 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

because the telegraph had just been invented and put into 
operation between Washington and Baltimore. 

The convention then proceeded to a second nomination 
for Vice-President, with the following result: 



John Fairfield, Maine 

Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire 

Lewis Cass, Michigan 

R. M. Johnson, Kentucky 

Com. Stewart, Pennsylvania 

Geo. M. Dallas, Pennsylvania . . . . 
Wm, L. Marcv, New York 



1st 


2d 


Ballot. 


Ballot. 


107 


30 


44 


6 


39 


— 


26 


— 


23 


— 


13 


220 


5 


— 



The nomination of Dallas was made unanimous. 

In constructing the Democratic platform for 1844 the 
Democrats threw out a political drag-net. The first Demo- 
cratic national platform that had been adopted by the con- 
vention of 1840 was embodied in its entirety in the platform 
of this convention, and the following new resolutions added : 

Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust, not 
in factitious sjmibols, not in displays and appeals insulting to the 
judgment and subversive of the intellect of the people, but in a clear 
reliance upon the intelligence, patriotism, and the discriminating 
justice of the American people. 

Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our 
political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world, 
as the great moral element in a form of government springing from 
and upheld by the popular will ; and we contrast it with the creed 
and practice of Federalism, under whatever name or form, which 
seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and which conceives no 
imposture too monstrous for the popular creduliry 

Resolved, Therefore, that, entertaining these views, the Demo- 
cratic party of this Union, through the delegates assembled in gen- 
eral convention of the States, coming together in a spirit of con- 
cord, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free representative 
Government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude 
of their intentions, renew and reassert before the American people 
the declaration of principles avowed by them on a former occasion, 
when, in general convention, they presented their candidates for 
the popular suffrage. 

Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be sa- 
credly applied to the national objects specified in the Constitution: 
and that we are opposed to the laws lately adopted, and to any law. 
for the distribution of such proceeds among the States, as alike in- 
expedient in policy and repugnant to the Constitution. 

82 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Resolved, That we are decidedly opposed to taking from the 
President the qualified veto power by which he is enabled, under 
restrictions and responsibilities amply sufficient to guard the public 
interest, to suspend the passage of a bill, whose merits cannot secure 
the approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives, until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, and 
which has thrice saved the American people from the corrupt and 
tyrannical domination of the Bank of the United States. 

Resolved, That our title to the whole of the territory of Oregon 
is clear and unquestionable ; that no portion of the same ought to 
be ceded to England or any other power ; and that the reoccupa- 
tion of Oregon and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest prac- 
tical period are great American measures which this convention 
recommends to the cordial support of the Democracy of the 
Union. 

Resolved, That this convention hold in the highest estimation and 
regard their illustrious fellow-citizen, Martin Van Buren of New 
York; that we cherish the most grateful and abiding sense of the 
ability, integrity, and firmness with which he discharged the duties 
of the high office of President of the United States, and especially 
of the inflexible fidelity with which he maintained the true doctrines 
of the Constitution and the measures of the Democratic party during 
his trying and nobly arduous administration ; that in the memorable 
struggle of 1840 he fell a martyr to the great principles of which he 
was the worthy representative, and we revere him as such ; and that 
we hereby tender to him, in honorable retirement, the assurance of 
the deeply seated confidence, affection, and respect of the American 
Democracy. 

The Whigs had nominated their national ticket in advance 
of the Democrats, the convention having been held at Bal- 
timore on the 1st of May, with every State fully represented. 
It was a national assembly of unusual ability, and was most 
heartily and enthusiastically united in the support of Clay 
for the Presidency. It did not require the formality of a 
ballot to present him as the Whig candidate, and his nomina- 
tion was made by acclamation. It required three ballots to 
nominate a candidate for Vice-President, as follows : 





First. 


Second. 


Third. 


T. Frelinghuysen, N. J 

Millard Fillmore, N. Y 

John Sergeant, Penn 


101 
83 
53 

38 


118 
74 
51 
32 


155 
79 

40 


Total 


275 


275 


274 







83' 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

The platform adopted by the Whigs was brief but ex- 
pressive. The Whig faith was tersely given in a single reso- 
lution. The other resolutions were simply eloquent tributes 
to Clay and Frelinghuysen, and the convention adjourned, 
making the welkin ring with cheers for " Harry Clay of 
the West " and for the " Mill Boy of the Slashes," and ab- 
solutely confident of the triumphant election of their great 
leader to the highest honors of the Republic. The first Whig 
national platform was as follows : 

Resolved, That, in presenting to the country the names of Henry 
Clay for President and of Theodore Frelinghuysen for Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States, this convention is actuated by the con- 
viction that all the great principles of the Whig party — principles 
inseparable from the public honor and prosperity — will be main- 
tained and advanced by these candidates. 

Resolved, That these principles may be summed as comprising: 
a well-regulated currency; a tariff for revenue to defray the neces- 
sary expenses of the Government, and discriminating with special 
reference to the protection of the domestic labor of the country; 
the distribution of the proceeds from the sales of the public lands ; 
a single term for the presidency ; a reform of executive usurpations ; 
and generally such an administration of the affairs of the country as 
shall impart to every branch of the public service the greatest prac- 
tical efficiency, controlled by a well-regulated and wise economy. 

Resolved, That the name of Henry Clay needs no eulogy. The 
history of the country since his first appearance in public life is his 
history. Its brightest pages of prosperity and success are identified 
with the principles which he has upheld, as its darkest and more 
disastrous pages are with every material departure in our public 
policy from those principles. 

Resolved, That in Theodore Frelinghuysen we present a man 
pledged alike by his Revolutionary ancestry and his own public 
course to every measure calculated to sustain the honor and interest 
of the country. Inheriting the principles as well as the name of a 
father who, with Washington, on the fields of Trenton and of Mon- 
mouth, perilled life in the contest for liberty, and afterward, as a 
Senator of the United States, acted with Washington in establishing 
and perpetuating that liberty, Theodore Frelinghuysen, by his course 
as Attorney-General of the State of New Jersey for twelve years, and 
subsequently as a Senator of the United States for several years, 
was always strenuous on the side of law, order, and the Constitu- 
tion, while, as a private man, his head, his hand, and his heart have- 
been given without stint to the cause of morals, education, philan- 
thropy, and religion. 

The third national convention that presented candidates 
for the campaign of 1844 was that of the Abolitionists. 
They had grown since 1840, when they first nominated Mr. 
Birney as their candidate, and their platform, elaborate as it 

84 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

is, is well worthy of careful study. It met at Buffalo, in 
August, 1843, and nominated James G. Birney, of New 
York, for President, and Thomas Morris, of Ohio, for Vice- 
President, and it increased its vote up to 62,300, all of 
which were cast in the Northern States, including 15,812 
for Birney in New York. As nearly all of them were of 
Whig antecedents, they would have preferred Clay to Polk 
if they had not presented a ticket of their own to divert 
their votes, and it was their support of Birney that gave 
Polk the majority over Clay in the Empire State, whose elec- 
toral vote decided the contest. The following is the full text 
of the first platform presented by an Abolition national 
convention : 

r 

Resolved, That human brotherhood is a cardinal principle of true 
democracy, as well as of pure Christianity, which spurns all incon- 
sistent limitations ; and neither the political party which repudiates 
it nor the political system which is not based upon it can be truly 
democratic or permanent. 

Resolved, That the Liberty party, placing itself upon this broad 
principle, will demand the absolute and unqualified divorce of the 
General Government from slavery, and also the restoration of equal- 
ity of rights among men, in every State where the party exists or 
may exist. 

Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized for any 
temporary purpose by interested politicians, but has arisen from 
among the people in consequence of a conviction, hourly gaining 
ground, that no other party in the country represents the true 
principles of American liberty or the true spirit of the Constitution 
of the United States. 

Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized merely 
for the overthrow of slavery. Its first decided effort must indeed be 
directed against slaveholding as the grossest and most revolting 
manifestation of despotism, but it will also carry out the principle 
of equal rights into all its practical consequences and applications, 
and support every just measure conducive to individual and social 
freedom. 

Resolved, That the Liberty party is not a sectional party, but a 
national party; was not originated in a desire to accomplish a single 
object, but in a comprehensive regard to the great interests of the 
whole country; is not a new party nor a third party, but is the 
party of 1776, reviving the principles of that memorable era, and 
striving to carry them into practical application. 

Resolved, That it was understood in the times of the Declara- 
tion and the Constitution that the existence of slavery in some of 
the States was in derogation of the principles of American liberty, 
and a deep stain upon the character of the country and the implied 
faith of the States ; and the nation was pledged that slavery should 
never be extended beyond its then existing limits, but should be 
gradually, and yet at no distant day, wholly abolished by State 
authority. 

85 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Resolved, That the faith of the States and the nation thus 
pledged _ was most nobly redeemed by the voluntary abolition of 
slavery in several of the States, and by the adoption of the ordinance 
of 1787 for the government of the territory northwest of the river 
Ohio, then the only territory in the United States, and consequently 
the only territory subject in this respect to the control of Con- 
gress, by which ordinance slavery was forever excluded from the 
vast regions which now compose the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Michigan, and the Territory of Wisconsin, and an incapacity, 
to bear up any other than free men was impressed on the soil itself. 

Resolved, That the faith of the States and nation thus pledged 
has been shamefully violated by the omission on the part of many 
of the States to take any measures whatever for the abolition of 
slavery within their respective limits ; by the continuance of slavery 
in the District of Columbia and in the Territories of Louisiana 
and Florida ; by the legislation of Congress ; by the protection af- 
forded by national legislation and negotiation to slaveholding in 
American vessels, on the high seas, employed in the coastwise slave 
traffic ; and by the extension of slavery far beyond its original limits, 
by acts of Congress admitting new Slave States into the Union. 

Resolved, That the fundamental truth of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, that all men are endowed by their Creator with cer- 
tain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness, was made the fundamental law of our National 
Government by that amendment of the Constitution which declares 
that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without 
due process of law. 

Resolved, That we recognize as sound the doctrine maintained 
by slaveholding jurists, that slavery is against natural rights and 
strictly local, and that its existence and continuance rest on no 
other support than State legislation, and not on any authority of 
Congress. 

Resolved,. That the General Government has, under the Constitu- 
tion, no power to establish or continue slavery anywhere, and there- 
fore that all treaties and acts of Congress establishing, continuing, 
or favoring slavery in the District of Columbia, in the Territory of 
Florida, or on the high seas, are unconstitutional, and all attempts 
to hold men as property within the limits of exclusive national 
jurisdiction ought to be prohibited by law. 

Resolved, That the provisions of the Constitution of the United 
States, which confer extraordinary political powers on the owners 
of slaves, and thereby constituting the two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand slaveholders in the Slave States a privileged aristocracy, and 
the provision for the reclamation of fugitive slaves from service, are 
anti-republican in their character, dangerous to the liberties of the 
people, and ought to be abrogated. 

Resolved, That the practical operation of the second of these 
provisions is seen in the enactment of the Act of Congress respect- 
ing persons escaping from their masters, which act, if the construc- 
tion given to it by the Supreme Court of the United States in the 
case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania be correct, nullifies the habeas corpus 
acts of all the States, takes away the whole legal security of per- 
sonal freedom, and ought therefore to be immediately repealed. 

Resolved, That the peculiar patronage and support hitherto ex- 

86 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

tended to slavery and slavehoiding by the General Government ought 
to be immediately withdrawn, and the example and influence of 
national authority ought to be arrayed on the side of liberty and 
free labor. 

Resolved, That the practice of the General Government, which 
prevails in the Slave States, of employing slaves upon the public 
works, instead of free laborers, and paying aristocratic masters, with 
a view to secure or reward political services, is utterly indefensible 
and ought to be abandoned. 
_ Resolved, That the freedom of speech and of the press, and the 
right of petition and the right of trial by jury, are sacred and in- 
violable; and that all rules, regulations, and laws in derogation of 
either are oppressive, unconstitutional, and not to be endured by free 
people. 

Resolved, That we regard voting, in an eminent degree, as a moral 
and religious duty, which, when exercised, should be by voting for 
those who will do all in their power for immediate emancipation. 

Resolved, That this convention recommend to the friends of lib- 
erty in all those Free States where any inequality of rights and privi- 
leges exists on account of color, to employ their utmost energies to 
remove all such remnants and effects of the slave system. 

Whereas, The Constitution of these United States is a series of 
agreements, covenants, or contracts between the people of the United 
States, each with all and all with each ; and 

Whereas, It is a principle of universal morality, that the moral 
laws of the Creator are paramount to all human laws ; or, in the 
language of an Apostle, that "we ought to obey God rather than 
men;" and 

Whereas, The principle of common law, that any contract, cove- 
nant, or agreement to do an act derogatory to natural rights is vitiated 
and annulled by its inherent immorality, has been recognized by 
one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, who 
in a recent case expressly holds that any " contract that rests upon 
such a basis is void;" and 

Whereas, The third clause of the second section of the fourth 
article of the Constitution of the United States, when construed as 
providing for the surrender of a fugitive slave, does " rest upon such 
a basis," in that it is a contract to rob a man of a natural right, 
namely, his natural right to his own liberty, and is, therefore, ab- 
solutely void ; therefore, 

Resolved, That we hereby give it to be distinctly understood by 
this nation and the world, that, as Abolitionists, considering that 
the strength of our cause lies in its righteousness, and our hope for 
it in our conformity to the laws of God and our respect for the 
rights of man, we owe it to the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, as 
a proof of our allegiance to Him, in all our civil relations and offices, 
whether as private citizens or as public functionaries sworn to sup- 
port the Constitution of the United States, to regard and to treat 
the third clause of the fourth article of that instrument, whenever 
applied to the case of a fugitive slave, as utterly null and void, and 
consequently as forming no part of the Constitution of the United 
States, whenever we are called upon or sworn to support it. 

Resolved, That the power given to Congress by the Constitution, 
to provide for calling out the militia to suppress insurrection, does 

87 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

not make it the duty of the Government to maintain slavery by mili- 
:ir; : :t ::::.. It— i:-r= :: ~ii:t :: :'r.t :;:;■ ::' zr.t z:~zt~~ :: £:r-'. 
a part of soch military force. When freemen unsheath the sword, 
:: ii-.i-.i :t :_: E:r:kt ::r ! :':••: r~ r.:: f:r its:::;; — . 

Resolved, That to preserve the peace of the citizens and secure 
the blessings of freedom, die Legislature of each of the Free States 
ought to keep in force .suitable statutes rendering it penal for any 
of its inhabitants to transport, or aid in transporting from such State, 
any person sought to be thus transported merely because subject 
to the slave laws of any other State; this remnant of independence 
being accorded to the Free States by the decision of the Supreme 
Court in the case of Prigg v. The State of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Clay enjoyed a much larger measure of personal pop- 
ularity than any other man in the nation, and he was univer- 
sally accepted as the most gifted political orator of his day. 
He was to the Whigs of that time what Blaine was to the 
Republicans during his several unsuccessful battles for the 
Presidency. It is a notable fact in political history that no 
z re-t~ ir.er.: political orator ever succeeded in reaching the 
Presidency. Garfield was the nearest approach to it, but 
he was a contemporary of Blaine, and Blaine far outstripped 
him either on the hustings or in parliamentary debate. Clay 
had entered both the House and Senate when little more 
than eligible by age, and he was admittedly the most accom- 
plished presiding ofiicer the House ever had. He was the 
Commoner of the war of 1812, and rendered most conspicu- 
ous service to his country. His speeches in the House did 
more than the persuasion of any other dozen men to force 
the young Republic into a second contest with England on 
the right of search on the high seas. He was always strong 
in argument, was often impassioned and superbly eloquent, 
and in every great emergency of the country during the first 
half of the present century he was the pacificator. President 
Madison was most reluctant to declare war against Eng- 
land, and he yielded to it only when it became a supreme 
necessity to obey the general demand of the country for an 
appeal to arms. 

When Clay was nominated for President in 1844, it was 
generally believed that he would have an easy victory over 
Van Buren, and when Polk, of Tennessee, was made the 
compromise candidate against him,, the Whigs at first be- 
lieved that the nomination of a comparatively obscure man 
against the great chieftain of the Whigs would give them a 
walk-over. The campaign had made little progress, how- 

88 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

ever, until the Whigs discovered that the Democrats were 
going to be thoroughly united on Polk, and that he was prob- 
ably the strongest candidate who could have been nominated 
against Clay. His chief strength was in his negative qual- 
ities. He had not been involved in any of the conflicts of 
ambition among the Democratic leaders. He was regarded 
as the favorite of Jackson, and while his nomination had 
been made without any previous discussion or suggestion 
of his claims to the Presidency, he had filled high State and 
national positions with credit, and he could not be accused 
of incompetency. I doubt indeed whether any other Demo- 
crat could have been nominated by the Democratic conven- 
tion to make a successful battle against Clay. 

The Whigs entered the contest defiant in confidence and 
enthusiastic to a degree that had never before been exhibited 
in the support of any candidate. The devotion of the Whigs 
to Clay was little less than idolatry, and strong men shed 
scalding tears over his defeat. He was largely handicapped 
in his battle by the complications put upon the Whig party 
by President Tyler. The Cabinet was wholly Democratic 
and bitterly against Clay. Under the demoralization caused 
by Tyler's betrayal of the party the Whigs had lost the House 
in 1842, but they retained their mastery in the Senate, and a 
new peril to Clay was soon developed in the growth of the 
Abolition sentiment of Western New York. Neither Clay 
nor Polk made campaign speeches, and both maintained 
themselves with scrupulous dignity throughout the long and 
exceptionally desperate contest. 

Pennsylvania was then, as in i860, the pivotal State of the 
struggle, and the death of the Democratic candidate for Gov- 
ernor during the midsummer deprived the Whigs of a 
source of strength that most likely would have given them 
the State in October. The Democrats had a violent factional 
dispute in choosing a candidate for Governor. Mr. Muhlen- 
berg, who had been a bolting candidate against Governor 
Wolfe in 1835, thereby electing Ritner, the anti-Masonic can- 
didate, was finally nominated for Governor over Francis R. 
Shunk, the candidate of the opposing faction. Muhlenberg 
was weakened by his aggressive factional record, and the 
Democrats were hardly hopeful of his election, but he died 
just when the struggle was at its zenith, and Shunk was 
then unanimously and cordially accepted as the Democratic 
leader. 

89 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

The Whigs had nominated General Markle, of Westmore- 
land, who was unquestionably the strongest man they could 
have presented. The Presidential battle was practically 
fought in that contest for Governor, and when Shunk was 
elected by 4397 majority, there were few who cherished 
much hope of Clay's election. Pennsylvania lost in October 
could not be regained in November, but the Whigs did not 
in any measure relax their efforts, and Polk carried the 
State over Clay by 6332. 

When Pennsylvania faltered the greatly impaired hopes Of 
the Whigs centred in New York, as it was believed that 
New York might decide the contest in favor of Clay, even 
with Pennsylvania certain to vote against him. The nomina- 
tion of Silas Wright for Governor had thoroughly united the 
Van Buren followers in support of Polk, and while Clay 
stood against the annexation of Texas and the extension of 
the slave power, the antislavery sentiment of New York was 
greatly strengthened by the fact that both Clay and Polk 
were Southerners and slaveholders. Birney, the Abolition 
candidate, received 15,812 votes, while Polk's majority in the 
State was 5106. Mr. Greeley, who was one of the leaders 
in the antislavery movement, and much more practical than 
the organized Abolitionists, bitterly denounced that party 
for defeating Clay. In his Wliig Almanac for 1845 he had 
an elaborate review of the contest, in which he said : 

" The year 1844 just ended has witnessed one of the most 
extraordinary political contests that has ever occurred. So 
nice and equal a balance of parties ; so universal and intense 
an interest; so desperate and protracted a struggle, are en- 
tirely without parallel. . . . James K. Polk owes his 
election to the Birney or Liberty party. Had there been no 
such party drawing its votes nine-tenths from the Whig 
ranks, Mr. Clay would have received at least the votes of 
New York and Michigan, in addition to those actually cast 
for him, giving him 146 electoral votes to Polk's 129. To 
Birney & Co., therefore, is the country indebted for the elec- 
tion of Polk and the annexation and anti-tariff ascendency 
in the Federal Government." 

The number of States voting was 26, the same as in 1840. 
The new Congressional apportionment had reduced the 
Representatives from 242 to 223, making the total number of 
electors 275. The following table exhibits the popular and 
electoral vote: 

90 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts . . 
Rhode Island. . . 
Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey .... 
Pennsylvania . . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

North Carolina. 
South Carolina* 

Georgia 

Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Missouri 

Arkansas 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Totals 



Popular Vote. 


M 

"o 
ft 

w 

<D 

a 


o 

u 

C 


c 

U 
ffl 

6 

a 

at 


45,719 
27,160 
18,041 
52,846 
4,867 
29,841 

237,588 
37,495 

167,535 

5,996 

32,676 

49,570 

39,287 

44,177 
37,740 
25,126 
13,782 
51,988 
59,917 
41,369 
9,546 
149,117 
27,759 
70,181 
57,920 


34,378 

17,866 
26,770 
67,418 
7,322 
32,832 

232,482 
38,318 

161,203 

6,278 

35,984 

43,677 

43,232 

42,100 
26,084 
19,206 
13,083 
61,255 
60,030 
31,251 
5,504 
155,057 
24,337 
67,867 
45,528 


4,836 

4,161 

3,954 

10,860 

107 

1,943 

15,812 

131 

3,138 

8,050 
3,632 
2,106 
3,570 


1,337,243 


1,299,062 


62,300 



Electors. 



26 



17 

9 
10 
9 
6 
6 



7 
3 

5 

12 

9 



170 



o 



6 

12 
4 
6 

7 

3 

8 

11 



12 
13 



23 



105 



* Chosen by Legislature. 

The Whigs, in keen despair over the defeat of their ablest 
and most beloved champion, charged fraud as the controlling 
factor in giving the Democrats their victory, but the battle 
had been fought and lost, and there was nothing left for 
them but submission. The electoral count was uneventful, 
and Polk and Dallas were formally declared elected Presi- 
dent and Vice-President without objection. 

The most desperate contests outside of New York and 



9i 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Pennsylvania were made in Tennessee and Delaware. Ten- 
nessee was the home of Polk, and the " Old Hero of New 
Orleans" threw himself into the contest for Polk with tire- 
less energy. He inspired his veteran followers not only 
because he wanted Polk elected, but because he much more 
wanted Clay defeated. Clay had defeated him for President 
in the House in 1825, and Jackson never forgot a friend and 
rarely forgave an enemy. It was many days after the elec- 
tion before the vote of Tennessee could be ascertained, and 
it was claimed by both parties until the official vote was de- 
clared. It was finally announced that Clay had carried the 
State by 113, and the success of Clay in that State was the 
only silver lining the Whigs had to the dark cloud of their 
defeat. 

Another memorable battle, though not in any sense an 
important contest as affecting the result, was fought in Dela- 
ware. The States did not then vote for President on the 
same day as now. All of them voted for Presidential electors 
in the month of November, although at that time nearly all 
the States elected their State officers and Congressmen 
earlier in the year. Delaware, with only 3 electoral votes, 
held both her State and her Presidential elections on the 
second Tuesday of November, and when her election day 
came around it was known to all that Clay was absolutely 
defeated for President. 

New York and Pennsylvania had voted for Polk a week 
before, and on the second Tuesday of November only Massa- 
chusetts and Delaware were left among the States that had 
not yet chosen electors. Massachusetts was Whig and 
hardly contested, but Delaware made a most heroic battle for 
Clay, even when it was known that a victory in the little 
Diamond State could not aid the election of their favorite. 
The Democrats, inspired by their positively assured success 
in the national contest, exhausted their resources and efforts 
to win, but in the largest vote ever cast in the State, Clay won 
by 287 majority, receiving a larger vote than was cast for 
the Whig candidates for Governor or for Congress, both of 
whom were successful, the first by 45 majority and the last 

by 173- 

The Kentucky electors met at their Capitol on the day 
appointed for the electoral colleges to cast their votes for 
President, and in sorrowing devotion to their chief cast the 
vote of the State for Clay for President. After their official 

92 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

duties had been performed a committee was appointed to 
prepare an address to be delivered to Mr. Clay at Ashland. 
All the members of the college, with many other citizens, 
accompanied the committee, and Clay met them at his hos- 
pitable door to hear the address delivered by Mr. Under- 
wood, the chairman. Clay's reply was one of the most beau- 
tiful of his very many exquisite illustrations of oratory. He 
said he would not " affect indifference to the personal concern 
which I had in the political contest just terminated, but un- 
less I am greatly self-deceived, the principal attraction to me 
of the office of President of the United States arose out of 
the cherished hope that I might be an humble instrument, in 
the hands of Providence, to accomplish public good," and in 
conclusion he said : " I heartily thank you, sir, for your 
friendly wishes for my happiness in the retirement which 
henceforth best becomes me." Thus closed the memorable 
Polk-Clay contest of 1844, 



THE TAYLOR-C ASS-VAN BUREN 
CONTEST 

1848 

President Polk was not blessed with a tranquil admin- 
istration. The annexation of Texas had been approved by 
Tyler several days before Polk was inaugurated as President, 
and that at once made strained relations between this coun- 
try and Mexico. It was an open secret then, and is now 
a part of the undisputed history of the country, that the elec- 
tion of Polk and the annexation of Texas were regarded by 
the friends of slavery extension as most important achieve- 
ments, and that period dated the aggressive action of the 
South, first to extend and next to nationalize slavery. The 
annexation of Texas brought in a Slave State and two 
United States Senators, with the treaty right to add eight 
new Senators by the subdivision of the State. 

This met Calhoun's complaint that the South could not 
maintain its equilibrium in the Senate because of the growing 
West. The purposes of the Southern extensionists, however, 
went far beyond the annexation of Texas. They meant to 
have part of Mexico, peaceably if possible, by war if neces- 
sary ; and the war was deliberately planned and precipitated 
upon Mexico by the action of the administration. The ter- 
ritory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande rivers was 
claimed by both Texas and Mexico, but Mexico had exer- 
cised uniform jurisdiction. Texas had never served a writ 
or collected a dollar of revenue on the Rio Grande, and the 
United States army of occupation, commanded by General 
Taylor, had not gone south of the Nueces. There was much 
violent discussion in Mexico over the annexation of Texas, 
whose independence Mexico disputed, and threats of war 
were freely made. 

The President, without the authority or knowledge of 

94 




ZACHARY TAYLOR 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Congress, ordered General Taylor to march to the Rio 
Grande and maintain it as the southern line of Texas. This 
precipitated the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma, in which Taylor defeated the Mexicans. The Demo- 
cratic Congress then prefaced a bill providing for the na- 
tional defence by declaring that " we are at war by the act 
of Mexico." The purpose of the Mexican war was very 
freely and severely criticised by a large portion of the people 
and by many of the ablest men of the nation. The Whigs 
in Congress were willing to vote for all needed appropria- 
tions for the support of the army, but a few members of the 
House, with the late John Strohm, of Pennsylvania, as the 
leader, after unsuccessfully struggling to strike out the 
declaration that " we were at war by the act of Mexico," 
refused to vote for the army appropriation ; and Corwin, of 
Ohio, made the ablest speech that ever was delivered in the 
Senate, with the single exception of Webster's reply to 
Hayne, against the Mexican war and against appropriating 
money for its prosecution. 

The certainty that the administration would acquire a 
large portion of Mexican territory for the purpose of creat- 
ing new Slave States gave dignity and importance to the 
slavery agitation that it never before attained, and in the 
fall elections of 1846 the Whigs carried the popular branch 
of Congress by a decided majority. The repeal of the pro- 
tective tariff of 1842 and the substitution of the revenue 
tariff of 1846 contributed considerably to the Democratic 
disaster, and the war was finally prosecuted by the admin- 
istration with an adverse House, although willing to furnish 
all appropriations necessary to support the armies in the field. 

After Taylor's early victories over the Mexicans he in- 
vaded Mexican territory and captured Monterey, and these 
victories made his name a household word throughout the 
country. Instead of permitting Taylor to proceed with the 
war that he had so successfully conducted up to that time, 
the administration decided to practically retire him. General 
Scott was called to plan an independent campaign from 
Vera Cruz to the capital of Mexico. It was openly charged 
that the administration feared the popularity of " Old Zach," 
as Taylor was generally called by the people, and that it had 
little fear of Scott as a Presidential candidate. Scott planned 
his campaign; was furnished with an independent army, 
and when he arrived at Vera Cruz he stripped General Tay- 

95 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

lor of nearly all his regulars, leaving him an army of but lit- 
tle over 4000, most of them volunteers. Santa Anna, whose 
return to Mexico had been sanctioned by our Government, 
made himself Military Dictator. He gathered an army of 
22.000 of the best Mexican troops and made a rapid move- 
ment to strike and crush General Taylor at Buena Yista. 
The history of that battle is well known. Taylor not only 
defeated but routed the Mexicans, and thereby made himself 
the next President of the United States. 

General Scott made a most brilliant campaign, fighting 
repeated battles, and finally captured the City of Mexico, 
when the administration involved him in bitter controversy, 
as was easily done with General Scott, and had him tried by 
a court of his inferiors in the Capitol of the enemy he had 
conquered. Brilliant as was his military campaign he re- 
turned home with little if any increased prestige, and every 
schoolboy in the land was huzzaing for " Old Zach." or for 
" Old Rough and Ready." 

There seems to be poetic justice in the marvellous his- 
torical fact that with the large amount of territory conquered 
from Mexico, and the additional territory afterward pur- 
chased by the Gadsden treaty, the South did not gain a single 
Slave State, and it quickened the issue of slaver}* that greatly 
hastened its destruction just when it hoped to attain omnipo- 
tence. 

It was uncertain after the war of Mexico was inaugurated 
and the certainty- of the acquisition of Mexican territory ac- 
re; red just when and in what shape the issue of the exten- 
sion of slavery would be presented. To the surprise of the 
friends of the administration it came much sooner and in 
much graver form than they had anticipated. On the 8th 
of August, 1846, President Polk sent a message to Congress 
asking for an appropriation to be placed at the President's 
disposal to enable him to negotiate an advantageous treaty 
of peace with the Mexican Government, and a bill was 
promptly presented to the House appropriating $32,000,000 
for immediate use in negotiations with Mexico. There were 
a number of able and earnest antislavery Democrats in the 
House, and among them David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania. 
When the bill, making the large appropriation to obtain 
peace with Mexico, that obviously meant the acquisition of 
Southern territory, as presented to the House, repeated 
conferences were had between the antislavery Democratic 

96 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

leaders, and what has since been known as the " Wilmot 
Proviso" was originally drawn by Judge Brinkerhoff, then 
a Democratic Congressman from Ohio, and finally revised 
and agreed upon, to be offered as an amendment to the Mexi- 
can Appropriation bill. 

The Speaker was adverse to the antislavery Democrats, 
and it was uncertain whether any of them could obtain the 
floor to offer the amendment. The result was that a copy of 
the proviso was furnished to some half a dozen, with the 
understanding that each should take advantage of any op- 
portunity to obtain the floor during the consideration of the 
bill and offer the amendment. The opportunity happened 
to come to Mr. Wilmot, and he offered the following amend- 
ment, that is the original of what is now known as the " Wil- 
mot Proviso." 

"Provided, That as an express and fundamental condition to 
the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the 
United States, by virtue of any treaty that may be negotiated between 
them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein ap- 
propriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist 
in any part of said territory except for crime whereof the party shall 
be first duly convicted." 

This proviso came like a bombshell into the ranks of the 
administrationists, and they were unable to defeat it. It 
was carried in Committee of the Whole by a vote of 83 to 
64, with only 3 Democrats from the Free States opposing 
it. When the measure was reported to the House, Mr. Tib- 
batts, of Kentucky, moved that it do lie on the table, and the 
motion was defeated by 93 to 79. The bill was engrossed for 
third reading by 85 to 80, and passed finally without further 
division, with a motion to reconsider laid on the table by 
vote of 83 to 73. Thus what is now known as the Wilmot 
Proviso was embodied by the House in the Appropriation bill 
for negotiating peace with Mexico. 

The Wilmot Proviso raised the slavery issue in the most 
direct form, and it played an important part in the Presiden- 
tial contest of 1848. It was simply a repetition of the clause 
prohibiting slavery that was put in the ordinance of 1787 
by Thomas Jefferson, when the Northwestern Territory 
was ceded by Virginia to the United States. It was a very 
embarrassing issue to many Northern Democrats, and to a 
few Southern Whigs who inclined to prevent slavery exten- 
sion. General Cass, who was made the candidate for Presi- 

97 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

dent in 1848, originally declared himself in favor of the 
Wilmot Proviso, but he learned a year later that no man 
could maintain his fellowship with the Democratic party 
under the Polk administration and support the prohibition of 
slavery in the Territories. 

When the discussion of candidates for the Presidential 
contest of 1848 became active, General Cass was addressed 
on the subject of slavery by A. O. P. Nicholson, of Nashville, 
Tenn., in which he inquired of Cass whether he was in favor 
of the acquisition of Mexican territory, and what his views 
were as to the Wilmot Proviso. General Cass answered, 
December 24, 1847, in which he declared himself in favor of 
the acquisition of Mexican territory and against the Wilmot 
Proviso, on which point he said : " I am strongly impressed 
with the opinion that a great change has been going on in 
the public mind upon this subject, in my own as well as 
others, and that doubts are resolving themselves into con- 
victions that the principle it involves should be kept out of 
the national Legislature and left to the people of the Con- 
federacy in their respective local governments." But for this 
declaration Cass would not have been the Democratic candi- 
date for President in 1848, and that declaration also opened 
the door for the Van Buren bolt that defeated Cass in the 
great ambition of his life. 

In addition to the serious political complications which 
confronted the Polk administration and threatened the defeat 
of the Democratic party at its close, the Oregon dispute with 
England, that had been made one of the chief features of the 
Polk campaign of 1844, was sensibly adjusted by Secretary 
of State Buchanan, but in utter disregard of the Demo- 
cratic declarations and ostentatious professions of the cam- 
paign. In that contest the Democrats from every stump 
declared that the boundary line between Oregon and Eng- 
land must be " 54 40', or fight " ; but when the issue be- 
came a question of statesmanship and diplomacy, a treaty 
was made fixing 49 ° as the boundary, and thus confessing 
that the claim of the Democrats in the campaign was made 
either in ignorance or insincerity. 

Another of the troubles that confronted the Democracy 
was the intense factional dispute in New York between 
what were known as the Hunkers and the Barnburners. 
The Hunkers were so called in derision by their enemies as 
men who always hunkered after office, and the Barnburners 

98 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



were so called by their opponents because it was charged that 
to correct evils in the party, they were ready to follow the 
foolish farmer who burnt his barn to rid it of rats. 

Silas Wright, who had lost the Vice-Presidency in 1844 by 
his devotion to Van Buren, and was finally compelled to run 
for Governor to save the State, suffered a severe defeat in 
1846 when a candidate for re-election. That defeat was 
charged by Van Buren and his friends to the perfidy of the 
Hunkers. So intense was the bitterness between these fac- 
tions that they could not agree on delegations to the national 
convention, and two opposing delegations were chosen, the 
Barnburners being antislavery Democrats and the Hunkers 
the regular or pro-slavery Democrats. The national conven- 
tion met at Baltimore on the 22d of May, 1848, with every 
State represented, and New York with a double delegation. 
Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, was made President, and 
the two-thirds rule was adopted by a vote of 175 to 78. For 
two days the convention wrangled over the disputing delega- 
tions from New York, and after protracted and angry de- 
bate a motion was finally passed by 126 to 124 admitting 
both delegations, each to cast half the vote of the State. 

While this was a comparative victory for the Barn- 
burners, they withdrew from the convention, and the 
Hunker delegation refused to participate in the proceedings. 
The prominent candidates before the convention for Presi- 
dent were Cass and Buchanan, with Cass immensely in the 
lead and reasonably certain to be nominated before the con- 
vention met. He had a large plurality on the 1st ballot, but 
did not reach the requisite two-thirds vote until the 4th, as 
is shown by the following table, giving the ballots in detail : 





First. 


Second. 


Third. 


Fourth. 


Necessary to a choice 

Lewis Cass, Mich 


168 

125 

55 

53 

3 

6 

9 


168 

133 

54 

56 

3 

6 


169 

156 

40 

53 

5 


169 
179 


James Buchanan, Penn 

Levi Woodbury, N. H. . 

George M. Dallas, Penn 

W. J. Worth, Tenn 


33 
38 

1 


John C. Calhoun, S. C 

W. 0. Butler, Ky 


3 







The convention adjourned after the nomination of Cass 
to meet in evening session to select a candidate for Vice- 



U tfck 



99 



OUU PRESIDENTS 

President, and without any preliminaries the ballot was had 
as follows : 



Wm. O. Butler, Ky 114 

J. A. Quitman, Miss 74 

John Y. Mason, Va 24 



Wm. R. King, Ala 29 

Jas. J. McKay, N. C 13 

Jefferson Davis, Miss 1 



A 2d ballot was had and ended in the unanimous nomina- 
tion of Butler. 

The platform of the party was not reported until the fifth 
and final day of the convention, and it was altogether the 
most elaborate declaration of principles ever made by a polit- 
ical party in national convention. Immediately after the 
first resolution as we give it followed the full text of the 
Democratic platforms adopted in 1840 and 1844, and to the 
fifth resolution of the platform of 1844 the following sen- 
tence was added : " And for the gradual but certain ex- 
tinction of the debt created by the prosecution of a just and 
necessary war after peaceful relations shall have been re- 
stored." The Democratic platform of 1848, therefore, in- 
cluded the platforms of 1840 and 1844, with the following 
new declarations of faith : 

Resolved, That the American Democracy place their trust in the 
intelligence, the patriotism, and the discriminating justice of the 
American people. 

Resolved, That the war with Mexico, provoked on her part by- 
years of insult and injury, was commenced by her army crossing 
the Rio Grande, attacking the American troops, and invading our 
sister State of Texas ; and that, upon all the principles of patriotism 
and the laws of nations, it is a just and necessary war upon our 
part, in which every American citizen should have shown himself 
on the side of his country, and neiiher morally nor physically, by 
word or deed, have given aid and comfort to the enemy. 

Resolved, That we should be rejoiced at the assurance of a peace 
with Mexico, founded on the just principles of indemnity for the 
past and security for the future; but that, while the ratification of 
the liberal treaty offered to Mexico remains in doubt, it is the duty 
of the country to sustain the administration in every measure neces- 
sary to provide for the vigorous prosecution of the war, should 
that treaty be rejected. 

Resolved, That the officers and soldiers who have carried the 
arms of their country into Mexico have crowned it with imperishable 
glory. Their unconquerable courage, their daring enterprise, their 
unfaltering perseverance and fortitude when assailed on all sides 
by innumerable foes — and that more formidable enemy, the diseases 
of the climate — exalt their devoted patriotism into the highest 
heroism, and give them a right to the profound gratitude of their 
country and the admiration of the world. 



IOO 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Resolved, That the Democratic National Convention of thirty 
States, composing the American Republic, tender their fraternal 
congratulations to the National Convention of the Republic of 
France, now assembled as the free suffrage representatives of the 
sovereignty of thirty-five millions of republicans, to establish gov- 
ernments on those eternal principles of equal rights, for which their 
Lafayette and our Washington fought side by side in the struggle 
for our national independence; and we would especially convey to 
them and to the whole people of France our earnest wishes for the 
consolidation of their liberties, through the wisdom that shall guide 
their counsels, on the basis of a democratic constitution, not de- 
rived from the grants or concessions of kings or dynasties, but 
originating from the only true source of political power recognized 
in the States of this Union : the inherent and inalienable rights of 
the people, in their sovereign capacity, to make and to amend their 
forms of government in such a manner as the welfare of the com- 
munity may require. 

Resolved, That with the recent development of this grand political 
truth — of the sovereignty of the people and their capacity and power 
for self-government, which is prostrating thrones and erecting re- 
publics on the ruins of despotism in the Old World — we feel that 
a high and sacred duty is devolved, with increased responsibility, 
upon the Democratic party of this country, as the party of the people, 
to sustain and advance among us constitutional liberty, equality, and 
fraternity, by continuing to resist all monopolies and exclusive legis- 
lation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many; and 
by a vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and com- 
promises of the Constitution, which are broad enough and strong 
enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it was, the Union as 
it is, and the Union as it shall be, in the full expansion of the 
energies and capacity of this great and progressive people. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded, through 
the American Minister at Paris, to the National Convention of the 
Republic of France. 

Resolved, That the fruits of the great political triumph of 1844, 
which elected James K. Polk and George M. Dallas President and 
Vice-President of the United States, have fulfilled the hopes of the 
Democracy of the Union in defeating the declared purposes of their 
opponents to create a national bank ; in preventing the corrupt and 
unconstitutional distribution of the land proceeds, from the common 
treasury of the Union, for local purposes ; in protecting the currency 
and labor of the country from ruinous fluctuations, and guarding 
the money of the people for the use of the people; by the establish- 
ment of the constitutional treasury; in the noble impulse given 
to the cause of free trade, by the repeal of the tariff of 1842, and 
the creation of the more equal, honest, and productive tariff of 
1846; and that, in our opinion, it would be a fatal error to weaken 
the hands of a political organization by which these great reforms 
have been achieved, and risk them in the hands of their known ad- 
versaries, with whatever delusive appeals they may solicit our sur- 
render of that vigilance which is the only safeguard of liberty. 

Resolved, That the confidence of the Democracy of the Union in 
the principles, capacity, firmness, and integrity of James K. Polk, 
manifested by his nomination and election in 1844, has been signally 

IOI 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

justified by the strictness of his adherence to sound Democratic 
doctrines, by the purity of purpose, the energy and ability which 
have characterized his administration in all our affairs at home and 
abroad ; that we tender to him our cordial congratulations upon the 
brilliant success which has hitherto crowned his patriotic efforts, and 
assure him in advance that, at the expiration of his Presidential term, 
he will carry with him to his retirement the esteem, respect, and ad- 
miration of a grateful country. 

Resolved, That this convention hereby present to the people of 
the United States Lewis Cass, of Michigan, as the candidate of the 
Democratic party for the office of President, and William O. Butler, 
of Kentucky, as the candidate of the Democratic party for Vice- 
President of the United States. 

After the platform had been reported, Mr. Yancey, of 
Alabama, offered an additional resolution providing, " That 
the doctrine of non-interference with the rights of property 
of any portion of the people of this Confederacy, be it in the 
States or Territories thereof, by any other than the parties 
interested in them, is the true Republican doctrine recognized 
by this body," but it was rejected by a vote of 216 to 36. 
Yancey's resolution stated just what the convention believed, 
but what it did not dare express. 

Notwithstanding the serious complications which con- 
fronted the Democrats at the opening of the campaign of 
1848, they started out with every prospect of electing their 
national ticket. Cass was accepted as the ablest of the Demo- 
cratic leaders of that day, and his nomination seemed to in- 
spire the Democrats to earnest effort for his election. There 
was then no apprehension of the Van Buren bolt that grew to 
such immense proportions before the campaign closed, and 
made the defeat of Cass inevitable. 

The Whigs were in an unfortunate position to go before 
the country. They had opposed the Mexican war vehe- 
mently, had protested against the acquisition of Mexican ter- 
ritory, and were certain to be divided on sectional lines aris- 
ing from the additional Territories and future States our ex- 
pansion was sure to give us. They were in the same position 
in which they found themselves in 1839, when they had to 
unite discordant elements of opposition to Van Buren to win 
the victory. The idolatry for Clay was yet cherished in all 
its intensity, and although enfeebled by age, he yielded to the 
earnest importunities of his friends, and announced himself 
as candidate for the nomination, though all intelligent and 
dispassionate Whig leaders knew that he was not available. 

102 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

General Scott had been clouded by serious differences 
with the administration, in which his volubility had served 
his enemies a good purpose, and Webster never had a large 
popular following as a Presidential candidate. It was the 
first national convention that I ever witnessed, being then 
a boy editor in the interior and not old enough to vote for the 
men I supported. It was held in Chinese Hall, in Philadel- 
phia, where the Continental Hotel now stands, and was dom- 
inated by the wonderfully able political leaders and states- 
men which the South produced in ante-bellum days. They 
knew that they could not meet the slavery issue in the new 
Territories, and they presented General Taylor to the con- 
vention, and, without a pledge from Taylor himself, they 
formally pledged themselves to the convention that if not 
nominated he would not be the candidate of any other party, 
and would support the ticket. 

The Whig National Convention convened at Philadelphia 
on the 7th of June, with a full representation from every 
State excepting Texas. Ex-Governor John M. Morehead, of 
North Carolina, presided. The conferences of the Whig 
leaders were anything but harmonious, and there were indi- 
cations at times of an open and very serious rupture. Clay's 
friends knew that it was the last battle that ever could be 
made for him. Their idolatry for Clay made them earnest, 
enthusiastic, even desperate, although most of them could not 
but foresee that his nomination was impossible, and that his 
election, if nominated, would be quite improbable. 

The friends of Clay and Scott did not take kindly to Gen- 
eral Taylor. He had been nominated some time before by 
a Native American National Convention that then repre- 
sented but an inconsiderable following principally in the 
Eastern cities, and he had never distinctly declared his devo- 
tion to the Whig policy. Congressman L. D. Campbell, of 
Ohio, offered a resolution just before the balloting began, 
declaring that the convention should not entertain the can- 
didacy of any man for President or Vice-President " who 
had not given assurances that he would abide by the action 
of the convention ; that he would accept the nomination and 
that he would consider himself the candidate of the Whig 
party." An angry debate was avoided by the President 
ruling the resolution out of order. Mr. Campbell appealed, 
but the appeal was lost. Mr. Fuller, of New York, then 
offered a resolution declaring that no man should be nomi- 

103 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

nated for President unless " he stands pledged to support 
in good faith the nominees and to be the exponent of Whig 
principles." This was also ruled out of order, and an appeal 
was tabled. 

Even after Taylor had been nominated, Mr. Allen, of 
Massachusetts, who afterward bolted the party and sup- 
ported Van Buren as a Free Soiler, offered a resolution de- 
claring that the Whig party would abide by the nomination 
of Taylor on condition that he would accept the nomination 
as the candidate of the Whig party, and adhere to its great 
fundamental principles of no extension of slavery territory, 
no acquisition of foreign territory by conquest, protection 
to American industry, and opposition to Executive usurpa- 
tion." That was ruled out of order, as were several other 
resolutions aiming at some expression on the question of 
slavery. 

The Southern Whig leaders saw that the only possible way 
to save the Whigs in the South was to nominate a Southern 
man : General Taylor was the only Southern man whom 
they believed could command favor in the North, and they 
wanted no expression from the convention on any of the 
delicate and perilous issues which confronted them. A num- 
ber of leading Southern delegates, headed by Balie Peyton, 
of Tennessee, gave their formal pledge to the convention that 
General Taylor would accept the nomination and would 
abide by the decision of the party, and that he could safely 
be trusted as an exponent of the Whig policy. The conven- 
tion had three ballots before a choice was reached for Presi- 
dent, as follows : 





First. 


Second. 


Third. 


Fourth. 


Zacharv Taylor. La 


Ill 

97 

43 

22 

2 


118 
86 
49 
22 

4 


133 

74 


171 


Henrv Clav. Kv 


32 


"Winfield Scott, N. J 


54 63 


Daniel Webster, Mass 


17 
1 


14 


John McLean. Ohio 




John M. Clayton, Del 


4 


— 



The nomination of Taylor was not made unanimous, as a 
number of the New England delegates and some from Ohio 

104 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

had decided not to support him under any circumstances, and 
they were later welcomed into the Free Soil Democracy that 
nominated Van Buren on the distinct antislavery extension 
platform. Among the most disgruntled of those who at- 
tended the convention was Horace Greeley. I met him then 
for the first time, and saw as much of him as I could, as he 
was my ideal fellow-editor. As soon as Taylor was nom- 
inated he started for New York, and I met him just as he was 
departing. He was evidently in great haste to make the 
Camden & Amboy train, and he was hurrying down Chest- 
nut Street. His low-crowned, broad-brimmed, fuzzy fur hat 
set at an angle of 45 degrees on the back of his head, his pro- 
fusion of shirt collar protected from wandering over his 
shoulders by an immense black silk handkerchief he used as a 
necktie, with the awkward knot serenely resting under his 
left ear, and his immense baggy black swallowtail coat, and 
the literal carpetbag he held by one handle, while the other 
lay down on the side of the bag, did not contribute much 
toward his genteel appearance. It was evident that he was 
mad clear through. In answer to my question as to how he 
liked the nomination of Taylor, he curtly answered, " Can't 
say that I admire it," and shuffled along toward the ferry, 
but the Tribune of the next morning had a terrific leader 
against Taylor, the title of which was " The Philadelphia 
Slaughterhouse," and Greeley long hesitated about coming 
into the support of Taylor. He could not follow Van Buren, 
in whom he had no faith and against whom he had made his 
first great battle as an editor in 1840. Finally, seeing that the 
choice was between Cass and Taylor, Greeley decided to 
support the Whig candidate, and the Whigs of New York 
showed their appreciation of his action by nominating him to 
fill an unexpired term in Congress, to which he was elected 
by a large majority. 

The contest for Vice-President had been very animated, 
and for some time before the meeting of the convention it 
seemed probable that Abbott Lawrence, a New England mil- 
lionaire, might win it. He made the first attempt that had 
been ventured to gain a national nomination by the money- 
in-politics system, but after Taylor had been nominated for 
President his friends naturally looked to some representative 
supporter of Clay to be placed second on the ticket, and Fill- 
more led Lawrence on the 1st ballot and was nominated on 
the 2d. The ballots were as follows : 

105 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



1st i± 

Ballot. Ballot. 




Millard Fillmore 115 

Abbott Lawrence 109 

Scattering 50 



George Evans, of Maine, and T. M. T. McKennen, 
Andrew Stewart, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, all re- 
ceived a few votes. The nomination of Fillmore was made 
unanimous by the delegates who remained in the convention. 
The convention adopted no platform. 

After the nomination of General Taylor for President an 
interesting, and what would now be regarded as a most lu- 
dicrous, incident occurred relating to the letter written by 
Governor Morehead, President of the Convention, to General 
Taylor advising him of his nomination for the Presidency. 
At that time the prepayment of postage was not compulsory, 
and unpaid letters were charged from five to ten times the 
present rate of letter postage. President Morehead promptly 
mailed a letter to General Taylor at Baton Rouge, Louisi- 
ana, notifying him of his nomination, but several weeks 
elapsed without any response. The telegraph was then in its 
infancy, and unthought of as an agent except in the most 
urgent emergency, and Governor Morehead finally sent a 
trusted friend to visit General Taylor and inquire why his 
letter of acceptance had not been given. Every political 
crank, as well as many others in the country, had been writ- 
ing letters to General Taylor on the subject of the Presi- 
dency, very few of whom prepaid their letter postage. Old 
" Rough and Ready" became vexed beyond endurance at the 
tax imposed upon him, and he gave peremptory orders to the 
postmaster to send to the dead-letter office all letters ad- 
dressed to him which were unpaid. Governor Morehead. as- 
suming that a letter advising a man of his nomination for the 
Presidency, that carried with it a reasonably certain election, 
was a matter of quite as much interest to Taylor as to him- 
self, had not prepaid the postage on his letter, and it had gone 
to the dead-letter office in accordance with Taylor's general 
orders. When the mistake was discovered, the error was 
corrected by the sending of a second letter — postage prepaid 
— to General Taylor, to which he promptly responded, and 

106 




MILLARD FILLMORE 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

the explanation given that the original letter had miscarried 
in the mails. 

One of the interesting episodes of the convention was the 
arrival in Philadelphia, while the Whig convention was in 
session, of General Cass and his suite of Democratic leaders 
of national fame. Cass was on his way home from Wash- 
ington, and the short time that he remained here he liber- 
ally divided public attention with the Whigs. An immense 
crowd welcomed Cass at the Jones Hotel, on Chestnut, above 
Sixth, and I there for the first time saw and heard General 
Cass, Senator Houston, Senator Allen, Senator Benton, and 
Representative Stevenson, all of whom spoke from the bal- 
cony of the hotel, and were cheered to the echo. I recall 
Houston as one of the handsomest men I have ever seen, with 
perfect physique, of heroic form, and a superbly chiselled 
face, portrayng all the strength of the best type of the Ro- 
man. Cass was heavy and ponderous, but an able and attrac- 
tive speaker, and I remember Benton well because his speech 
made him remembered as a colossal, perpendicular I. Allen 
was then notable as the " fog-horn," and he could be heard 
a square beyond any of the others. A facetious delegate in 
the Whig convention, with admirable mock gravity, sug- 
gested that as the Democratic funeral train was in this city 
taking Cass's body home by the lakes, the convention should 
adjourn. 

As might have been expected, and as was greatly feared 
by both the leading parties, the slavery issue was at once 
made the vital one of the contest. The Democrats hoped 
that as the contest warmed up the Van Buren followers 
would acquiesce as they did in 1844, but what at first 
seemed to be a cloud on the Democratic horizon no bigger 
than a man's hand soon after developed into a promised 
tempest. The Barnburners, who had withdrawn from the 
Democratic National Convention, called a State convention, 
to meet at Utica, N. Y., on the 226. of June, and invited 
delegates from other States for conference. Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, Ohio, and Wisconsin were represented, and 
after devoting two days to the discussion of the best policy 
to adopt, Van Buren was formally nominated for President, 
and Henry Dodge, of Wisconsin, for Vice-President, who 
declined, and supported Cass. Van Buren's formal accept- 
ance of the nomination followed soon thereafter, and it was 
the first definite notice to the regular Democrats that the 

107 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Free-Soil Democracy was going to be earnestly arrayed 
against Democratic success. 

Although Van Buren had accepted the first nomination, 
it was deemed wise as the campaign progressed to have 
a much more representative national body to make him the 
candidate, and a largely attended mass convention met at 
Buffalo on the 9th of August, over which Charles Francis 
Adams, of Massachusetts, presided, and which had repre- 
sentatives from seventeen States. On the formal ballot for 
President, Van Buren had 159 votes to 129 for John P. 
Hale, of New Hampshire, who had already been nominated 
by the Abolitionists, and Charles Francis Adams was nomi- 
nated by acclamation for Vice-President. After this con- 
vention had made its nominations and declared its platform, 
Mr. Hale, the i\bolition candidate, retired from the contest, 
and he and his followers gave a cordial support to Van 
Buren. The following was the Van Buren platform as 
declared by the Buffalo convention : 

Whereas, We have assembled in convention, as a union of free- 
men, for the sake of freedom, forgetting all past political differ- 
ences, in common resolve to maintain the rights of free labor against 
the aggressions of the slave power, and to secure free soil for a free 
people; and 

Whereas, The political conventions recently assembled at Balti- 
more and Philadelphia, the one stifling the voice of a great con- 
stituency, entitled to be heard in its deliberations, and the other 
abandoning its distinctive principles for mere availability, have dis- 
solved the national party organizations heretofore existing by nom- 
inating for the chief magistracy of the United States, under the 
slaveholding dictation, candidates, neither of whom can be supported 
by the opponents of slavery extension without a sacrifice of con- 
sistency, duty, and self-respect; and 

Whereas, These nominations so made furnish the occasion and 
demonstrate the necessity of the union of the people under the 
banner of free democracy, in a solemn and formal declaration of 
their independence of the slave power, and of their fixed determina- 
tion to rescue the Federal Government from its control : 

Resolved, Therefore, that we, the people here assembled, remem- 
bering the example of our fathers in the days of the first Declara- 
tion of Independence, putting our trust in God for the triumph of 
our cause, and invoking His guidance in our endeavors to advance 
it, do now plant ourselves upon the national platform of freedom, in 
opposition to the sectional platform of slavery. 

Resolved, That slavery in the several States of this Union which 
recognize its existence depends upon State laws alone, which cannot 
be repealed or modified by the Federal Government, and for which 
laws that Government is not responsible. We therefore propose no 
interference by Congress with slavery within the limits of any 
State. 

108, 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Resolved, That the proviso of Jefferson, to prohibit the existence 
of slavery after 1800 in all the Territories of the United States, 
southern and northern; the votes of six States and sixteen dele- 
gates, in the Congress of 1784 for the proviso, to three States and 
seven delegates against it ; the actual exclusion of slavery from the 
Northwestern Territory by the ordinance of 1787, unanimously 
adopted by the States in Congress; and the entire history of that 
period — clearly show that it was the settled policy of the nation not 
to extend, nationalize, or encourage, but to limit, localize, and dis- 
courage slavery; and to this policy, which should never have been 
departed from, the Government ought to return. 

Resolved, That our fathers ordained the Constitution of the United 
States in order, among other great national objects, to establish 
justice, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
liberty; but expressly denied to the Federal Government, which they 
created, all constitutional power to deprive any person of life, lib- 
erty, or property, without due legal process. 

Resolved, That, in the judgment of this convention, Congress has 
no more power to make a slave than to make a king; no more 
power to institute or establish slavery than to institute or establish 
a monarchy. No such power can be found among those specifically 
conferred by the Constitution, or derived by any just implication 
from them. 

Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to relieve 
itself from all responsibilty for the existence or continuance of 
slavery wherever the Government possesses constitutional authority 
to legislate on that subject, and is thus responsible for its existence. 

Resolved, That the true and, in the judgment of this convention, 
the only safe means of preventing the extension of slavery into ter- 
ritory now free is to prohibit its existence in all such territory by 
an act of Congress. 

Resolved, That we accept the issue which the slave power has 
forced upon us; and to their demand for more Slave States and 
more slave territory, our calm but final answer is, no more Slave 
States and no more slave territory. Let the soil of our extensive do- 
mains be ever kept free for the hardy pioneers of our own land, and 
the oppressed and banished of other lands, seeking homes of com- 
fort and fields of enterprise in the New World. 

Resolved, That the bill lately reported by the committee of eight 
in the Senate of the United States was no compromise, but an ab- 
solute surrender of the rights of the non-slaveholders of all the 
States; and while we rejoice to know that a measure which, while 
opening the door for the introduction of slavery into territories now 
free, would also have opened the door to litigation and strife among 
the future inhabitants thereof, to the ruin of their peace and pros- 
perity, was defeated in the House of Representatives, its passage, 
in hot haste, by a majority embracing several Senators who voted 
in open violation of the known will of their constituents, should 
warn the people to see to it that their representatives be not suf- 
fered to betray them. There must be no more compromises with 
slavery ; if made, they must be repealed. 

Resolved, That we demand freedom and established institutions 
for our brethren in Oregon, now exposed to hardships, peril, and 
massacre by the reckless hostility of the slave power to the estab- 

109 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

lishment of free government for free territory, and not only for 
them, but for our new brethren in New Mexico and California. 

And whereas. It is due not only to this occasion, but to the whole 
people of the United States, that we should declare ourselves on 
certain other questions of national policy ; therefore. 

Resolved, That we demand cheap postage for the people : a re- 
trenchment of the expenses and patronage of the Federal Govern- 
ment ; the abolition of all unnecessary offices and salaries ; and the 
election by the people of all civil officers in the service of the Gov- 
ernment, so far as the same may be practicable. 

Resolved, That river and harbor improvements, whenever de- 
manded by the safety and convenience of commerce with foreign 
nations, or among the several States, are objects of national con- 
cern ; and that it is the duty of Congress, in the exercise of its con- 
stitutional powers, to provide therefor. 

Resolved, That the free grant to actual settlers, in consideration of 
the expenses they incur in making settlements in the wilderness, 
which are usually fully equal to their actual cost, and of the public 
benefits resulting therefrom, of reasonable portions of the public 
lands, under suitable limitations, is a wise and just measure of public 
policy which will promote, in various ways, the interests of all the 
States of this Union ; and we therefore recommend it to the favor- 
able consideration of the American people. 

Resolved, That the obligations of honor and patriotism require 
the earliest practicable payment of the national debt ; and we are, 
therefore, in favor of such a tariff of duties as will raise revenue 
adequate to defray the necessary expenses of the Federal Govern- 
ment, and to pay annual instalments of our debt, and the interest 
thereon. 

Resolved, That we inscribe on our banner, " Free Soil, Free 
Speech, Free Labor and Free Men," and under it will fight on, and 
fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions. 

The Presidential contest of 1848 for the first time pre- 
sented the Native American party in the field with national 
candidates. It had its origin chiefly from the Philadelphia 
riots of 1844, resulting from a bitter feud between the 
Catholics and Protestants in the uptown river districts of 
Philadelphia. The organization of the Native American 
party immediately followed in Philadelphia, with opposition 
to Catholics and foreigners as its faith, and for nearly a 
decade it held the balance of power between the Whigs and 
Democrats in that city, and several times elected members 
of Congress. A like party was organized in New York, 
and attained some local success in that city. The national 
convention of the Native Americans was held in Philadelphia 
in September, 1847, and while it did not make a formal 
nomination, it recommended General Taylor for President 
and chose Henry A. S. Dearborn, of Massachusetts, for 

no 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Vice-President. The party was unknown and unfelt in the 
contest, although it aided somewhat in giving the electoral 
vote of Pennsylvania to Taylor. 

In November, 1847, the Liberty party, that had twice 
nominated and ran Birney as its candidate for President, 
met at New York and nominated John P. Hale, of New 
Hampshire, for President, and Leicester King, of Ohio, for 
Vice-President. When the Free-Soil Democracy developed 
huge proportions and nominated Van Buren, the old Abolition 
party was entirely absorbed in the Free-Soil organization. 
The Liberty League, made up of a small number of the more 
radical Abolitionists, held a meeting at Rochester on the 
26. of June, 1848, and nominated Gerrit Smith, of New 
York, for President, and Rev. Charles E. Foote, of Michi- 
gan, for Vice-President; and what was called the Industrial 
Congress, made up of a handful of labor agitators, met at 
Philadelphia on the 13th of June, 1848, and nominated 
Gerrit Smith for President and William S. Waitt, of Illi- 
nois, for Vice-President. Neither the Hale Abolition party, 
the Liberty League Abolition party, nor the Industrial Con- 
gress party presented any electoral tickets of which I have 
been able to find any record. The canvass was a very earnest 
one, and the Whigs steadily grew in confidence as it pro- 
gressed, while the Democrats were threatened on every side 
with disaster. 

Pennsylvania broke from her Democratic moorings at 
the October election, when William F. Johnson, Whig, was 
elected Governor by 305 majority, and generally the pre- 
liminary elections were favorable to the Whigs. There 
were then thirty States, as Florida had come in March 3, 
1845 > Texas, December 29, 1845 '■> Iowa, December 28, 1846, 
and Wisconsin, May 29, 1848, and the Presidential electors 
were then for the first time all chosen on the same day, with 
the single exception of Massachusetts. Van Buren did not 
carry a State, but he gave Taylor an easy triumph by the 
large Democratic defection he caused in the pivotal States. 
The following table exhibits the popular and electoral votes 
as declared by Congress: 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts . . 
Rhode Island. . . 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania . . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

North Carolina. . 
South Carolina* 

Georgia 

Alabama 

Florida 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Missouri 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

Totals 



Popular Vote. 



Xi 
o 
at 



35,125 
14,781 
23,122 
61,070 
6,779 
30,314 

218,603 
40,015 

185,513 

6,421 

37,702 

45,124 

43,550 



47,544 

30,482 

3,116 

25,922 

18,217 

4,509 

7,588 

32,671 

64,705 

67,141 

138,360 

23,940 

69,907 

53,047 

13,747 

11,084 



1,360,099 



39,880 
27,763 
10,948 
35,281 
3,646 
27,046 

114,318 
36,901 

171,176 

5,898 

34,528 

46,586 

34,869 



44,802 
31,363 

1,847 
26,537 
15,370 
10,668 

9,300 
40,077 
58,419 
49,720 
154,775 
30,687 
74,745 
56,300 
15,001 
12,093 



%> 



12,096 

7,560 

13,837 

38,058 

730 

5,005 

120,510 

829 

11,263 

80 

125 



1,220,544 



35,354 
10,389 

8,100 
15,774 
10,418 

1,126 



291,263 



Electors. 



O 



6 
12 

4 

6 
36 

7 
26 

3 



11 

10 

3 

6 



13 
12 



163 



*By Legislature. 



All parties made earnest efforts to control the popular 
branch of Congress, and national interest naturally centred 
in the Wilmot district of Pennsylvania, as he was the author 
of the Wilmot Proviso, that was the fountain of the slavery 



112 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



dispute. He had been twice elected to Congress in what was 
then a strong Democratic district, composed of Bradford 
Susquehanna, and Tioga, but which have been amon? the 
strongest Republican counties in the State since the organi- 
zation of that party. The district had given over 2000 
majority for Polk against Clay, and although Wilmot was 
the only member of Congress from Pennsylvania who voted 
for the tariff of 1846, he was re-elected in the fall of that 
year by a decided majority. 

When Van Buren was nominated, Wilmot openly declared 
himself as a Free-Soil Democrat, but he received the regular 
Democratic nomination for Congress in his district. The 
Cass pro-slavery Democrats bolted and nominated Jonah 
Brewster as a Simon-pure Democrat, and the Whigs nomi- 
nated Henry W. Tracy, confidently expecting to elect him. 
Wilmot was triumphantly elected, receiving 8597 votes to 
4795 for Tracy, Whig, and 922 for Brewster, Cass Democrat 
He also nearly evenly divided the Democratic vote of 
Bradford and Tioga between Cass and Van Buren, giving 
laylor a large plurality over Cass in the district 

While the Wilmot Free-Soil Democrats bolted on the 
Democratic national ticket, they generally supported Morris 
Longstreth, the Democratic candidate for Governor, who 
was defeated by Johnson in October by 305 majority The 
re-election of Wilmot in one of the strong Democratic 
districts of Pennsylvania greatly strengthened the anti- 
slavery cause throughout the country. He and his followers 
fell back into the regular Democratic line in 1852 in support 
ot Fierce, and they finally severed their relations with the 
Democratic party in 1854, provoked by the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise, and in 1856 they carried the Northern 
counties of the State by large majorities for Fremont 

Cass earned every State west of the Pennsylvania line 
including Ohio, where the antislavery sentiment of the 
Western Reserve was unwilling to accept a large slaveholder 
as a candidate for President. Corwin, the most brilliant and 
impressive of the stump-speakers of that day, made desper- 
ate efforts to save the State, but Van Buren received over 
35,000 votes, and Cass won the electors by a plurality of 
oyer 16,000 I once heard Corwin in his inimitable way tell 
the story of that campaign. The people of Ohio in* that 
day were taught their politics by mass-meetings, and any 
one of the audience was entirely at liberty to interrogate 



113 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

the speaker. Corwin, in his plausible and fascinating way, 
was trying to explain how the antislavery cause would be 
best served by electing a slaveholder President, when a tall, 
lank countryman, sitting on the fence, put a very pointed 
question to him, that he felt unable to answer. He tried to 
meet it in a humorous way, but only aroused his interrogator 
to make a more pointed inquiry of him, that Corwin could 
not answer. He was one of the few orators who could 
convulse an audience with his superb humor, and his facial 
expression was at times even more mirth provoking than his 
language. The question involved the negro issue, and Cor- 
win had an unusually swarthy complexion, and he unhorsed 
his inquirer by saying to his audience with an expression 
that powerfully accentuated his remark : " I submit, fellow- 
citizens, whether it is proper to put such a question to a man 
of my complexion," and the dispute ended in boisterous 
laughter and cheers for Corwin. The Whigs won easy vic- 
tories in all the debatable States of the South ; and General 
Taylor came to the Presidency knowing less about how his 
election had been accomplished than any man who had ever 
been called to the Chief Magistracy of the Republic. Thus 
was Martin Van Buren avenged for the Southern betrayal 
of 1844. 







FRANKLIN PIERCE 



THE PIERCE-SCOTT CONTEST 

1852 

While the Whigs were apprehensive as to General Tay- 
lor's fidelity to an aggressive Whig policy both before and 
after his election, when he came to the selection of his Cab- 
inet he quieted all doubts by appointing a positive Whig 
Cabinet, with John M. Clayton, one of the ablest of the Whig 
leaders of that day and an eminently practical politician, to 
the Premiership. Taylor had little fitness for responsible 
civil duties, and charged his Cabinet, that was made up of 
eminently able men, with the administration of their differ- 
ent departments. The slavery question was uppermost in 
the politics of the day, and the Taylor Cabinet finally decided 
upon a policy to solve the delicate problem by admitting none 
of the newly acquired Mexican possessions as Territories, 
but leaving the question of slavery to be determined by them- 
selves when they came to admission as States. 

This policy was antagonized by the ultra antislavery peo- 
ple, who wanted the distinct prohibition of slavery in Terri- 
torial organizations, and also by the extreme slavery Whigs, 
who desired them admitted as Territories without any ex- 
pression on slavery, believing that slaves could be taken into 
any Territory south of the Missouri Compromise line unless 
prohibited by the organic law. Clay had returned to the 
Senate, and being neither more nor less than human, he had 
little inclination to harmonize with an accidental Whig Pres- 
ident who filled the position to which Clay felt he was justly 
entitled. As opposed to the policy of the President, Clay 
came in as pacificator and proposed what then became 
known, and what have since been known as the Compromise 
Measures of 1850. It is doubtful whether either the admin- 
istration or the Clay Compromise policy could have been suc- 
cessful had the President lived. Certainly the Compromise 
bill would have failed, but it is uncertain whether the ad- 

115 



... .... _ . _•_. 



: v- T7 : ; :: int. 

m.r... : :rm :r. ::jl: imt t._t: 5 .:m: .-.'.:. 
potior through Congress. Its policy w 

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lemit :nii = :: in :::.: f: trim :ni 
: : i:izt. 

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_-::mit 7re_iitn: : ■ .:: .7 :: ins :mzt if V:;~- -rt.iitin 
_i; izr _ itmm inmrei me ;:..:.:!. : ..:: : _e_ :: :iie _ inn- 
isirmm in me ernne.: .mirile men in I : n r r t f f :: neei 
me : . : : :. : 1 : : fit:; :n nit it" . ;. ; : me : rerrz.z ry 
— :rt i.-:e :. t iri; mi ' . ze-7 re.- . :tif if iz: in irnmziy 

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it reveiiei iht i:..i" :: nit i im.i.fzrii :i 

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if :n nit ::r.i. itize :: nit _17.fr mrim:5ii.mzi mi if 
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t: lii'it in nit 7t.r.::::tf Tit :n;;:n..; zziferrei "i:i: 
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zie " 11: :: me Nzrii very itnenzmiv ::;::: 1.1: Aiier iit 
:e:m:e 7re_iien: lie i7 1:; rm.f t iitif.ntf trt rt 
mi in; m_.it lit iif: ireiz unit ::' ins ize if iinniinr. 
:.: me : : t: :: me i innifirin ::: iiiei nit _.i; _:m- 
:-::::.:t iitfintf zmt: :::: mmmti :: inmrt-f : 

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nrsi :::.!:: mt i :::::: :: f . 1 " t r n: me _ n::n: :: _■:- 
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i.nt n in: ::r nit :: mtn: :: 7enii ::" _:: :-:«: :<:•: 
: : - it. in; ier 11:1; :: i "t i it::n : mi i::i in :i :r : : 
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out restTJctioDS as to slawefy- 
. :.z z ■_.:: mt : : lie 



::i 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

united the Democratic party, as the friends of slavery ex- 
tension had won a substantial triumph, and the Democrats 
of the North were generally in harmony with that policy, but 
it greatly weakened the Whigs in the North without 
strengthening them in the South, and Fillmore, and Web- 
ster, then Secretary of State, became rival candidates for the 
Whig nomination, while the anti-Compromise or antislavery 
element of the Whigs united on General Scott. 

When the Democratic National Convention met at Balti- 
more, June i, 1852, the leaders were entirely confident of 
electing their candidates. John W. Davis, of Indiana, was 
made President, and the two-thirds rule reaffirmed. The 
sessions of the convention were protracted, lasting six days, 
but there was little angry dispute as to either candidates or 
measures. There were 49 ballots for President, Cass and 
Buchanan being the leading competitors at the start. The 
Virginia delegation, that was always potential in Democratic 
conventions, had become weary of the hopeless contest be- 
tween the candidates, and on the 35th ballot cast a solid 
vote for Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, whose name 
had not up to that time been before the convention. The 
friends of Cass made an earnest rally, but were unable to 
concentrate sufficient strength to approach the two-thirds 
vote, and Marcy finally loomed up as the leading competitor 
of Pierce. The following table gives the detail vote on each 
ballot : 



BALLOTS. 



1. 
2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

1 . 

8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 





(3 














a 




Bj 


to 






c 











c 


eJ 


>> 


>-I 





6 




c 


(A 





3 




u 




GO 

3 


bo 




m 


rt 


pj 


O 


0) 


n 








<A 


.^ 


O 


ffl 


Q 


£ 


PQ 


w 


tt 


J 





116 


93 


20 


27 


2 


8 


3 


13 




118 


95 


23 


27 




6 


3 


13 




119 


94 


21 


26 




7 


3 


13 




115 


89 


31 


25 




7 


3 


13 




114 


88 


34 


26 




8 


3 


13 




114 


88 


34 


26 




8 


3 


13 




113 


88 


34 


26 




9 


3 


13 




113 


88 


34 


26 




9 


3 


13 




112 


87 


39 


37 




.8 


— 


13 




111 


86 


40 


27 




8 


— 


14 




101 


87 


50 


27 




8 


— 


13 




98 


88 


51 


27 




9 


— 


13 




98 


88 


51 


26 




10 


— 


13 




99 


87 


51 


26 




10 


— 


13 




99 


87 


51 


26 




10 


— 


13 




99 


87 


51 


26 




10 


— 


13 




99 


87 


50 


26 




11 


— 


13 




96 


85 


56 


25 




11 


— 


13 





.117 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



BALLOTS. 


co 

CO 

d 
U 


a 

C 

u 

s 
pq 


CO 

a 

o 
A 


o 

U 

8 


u 

pi 
pq 


B 

o 
-u 

in 

o 


co 
be 
■a 

o 

A 


a 
<& 


c 
o 

CO 

Jti 

M 

o 

A 


o 
u 

cu 


19 


89 

81 

60 

53 

37 

33 

34 

33 

32 

28 

27 

33 

64 

98 

123 

130 

131 

122 

120 

107 

106 

106 

107 

101 

101 

101 

96 

78 

75 

73 

2 


85 
92 
102 
104 
103 
103 
101 
101 
98 
96 
93 
91 
79 
74 
72 
49 
39 
28 
28 
28 
28 
27 
27 
27 
27 
27 
27 
28 
28 
28 


63 
64 
64 
77 
78 
80 
81 
80 
85 
88 
91 
92 
92 
80 
60 
53 
52 
43 
37 
33 
33 
33 
33 
33 
33 
33 
32 
32 
33 
33 
2 


26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
25 
23 
44 
58 
70 
84 
85 
85 
85 
91 
91 
91 
97 
97 
95 
90 


1 

1 

13 

15 

19 

23 

24 

24 

24 

25 

25 

20 

16 

1 

2 

2 


10 

10 

9 

9 

11 

9 

9 

10 

9 

11 

12 

12 

10 

8 

6 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

6 


- 


13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 


16 




20 





21 





22 


■ 


23 





24 





25 





26 





27 





28 





29 





30 





31 





32 





33 





34 




35 


15 


36 


30 


37 


29 


38 


29 


39 


29 


40 


29 


41 


' 29 


42 


29 


43 


29 


44 


29 


45 


29 


46 


44 


47 


49 


48 


55 


49 


282 







Two ballots were had for Vice-President, the first result- 
ing as follows : 



Wm. R. King, Ala 126 

Gideon J. Pillow, Tenn 25 

D. R. Atchison, Mo 25 

T.J. Rusk, Texas 12 

Jefferson Davis, Miss 2 



Wm. O. Butler, Ky 27 

Robert Strange, N. C 23 

S. U. Downs, La 30 

J. B. Weller, Cal 2$ 

Howell Cobb, Ga 2 



The 2d ballot ended with the unanimous nomination 
of Mr. King. 

The party platform was precisely that of 1848, all em- 
bodied in full text, with two new resolutions added on the 
subject of slavery and additional resolutions relating to 
other national issues. The Democratic platform of 1852, 
therefore, embraced all the previous Democratic platforms 
with the following added : 

118 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Resolved, That the foregoing proposition covers, and is intended 
to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitated in Congress; and 
therefore the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this na- 
tional platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution 
of the acts known as the " Compromise" Measures settled by the 
last Congress — the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or 
labor included ; which act, being designed to carry out an express 
provision of the Constitution, cannot with fidelity thereto be re- 
pealed, nor so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency. 

Resolved, That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at 
renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery ques- 
tion, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made. 



Then follow the resolutions in former platforms respect- 
ing the distribution of the proceeds of land sales, that re- 
specting the veto power, and these additions : 



Resolved, That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and 
uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia reso- 
lutions of 1792 and 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the 
Virginia Legislature in 1799; that it adopts those principles as con- 
stituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is 
resolved to carry them out in their obvious meanino- and import. 

Resolved, That the war with Mexico, upon all the principles of 
patriotism and the law of nations, was a just and necessary war on 
our part in which no American citizen should have shown himself 
opposed to his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word 
or deed, given aid and comfort to the enemy. 

Resolved, That we rejoice at the restoration of friendly relations 
with our sister republic of Mexico, and earnestly desire for her all 
the blessings and prosperity which we enjoy under republican insti- 
tutions, and we congratulate the American people on the results of 
that war, which have so manifestly justified the policy and conduct 
of the Democratic party, and insured to the United States indem- 
nity for the past and security for the future. 

Resolved, That, in view of the condition of popular institutions 
in the Old World, a high and sacred duty is devolved, with in- 
creased responsibility, upon the Democracy of this country, as the 
party of the people, to uphold and maintain the rights of every State, 
and thereby the union of States, and to sustain and advance among 
them constitutional liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies 
and exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense 
of the many, and by a vigilant and constant adherence to those 
principles and compromises of the Constitution which are broad 
enough and strong enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it 
is, and the Union as it should be, in the full expansion of the ener- 
gies and capacity of this great and progressive people. 

The nomination of Pierce was received very generally by 
the Democrats with great enthusiasm. The spirit of young 

119 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Democracy had grown up in the party and become very for- 
midable. The Democratic Review, the monthly organ of 
Democracy, had been reorganized with an able and most 
aggressive staff devoted to the overthrow of " old fogyism" 
in the party, and when Pierce was nominated the boys who 
do the shouting were almost wholly in sympathy with the 
young Democracy, and the old-timers had to fall in the rear 
of the procession. With the Democratic party united on 
candidates who were free from factional complication, and 
with the Compromise Measures, on which they could unite 
both the North and South, they started in the contest with 
every advantage and maintained it until election day, when 
the Whig party suffered its Waterloo. 

The Whig convention met in Baltimore on the 16th of 
June with every State represented, and John G. Chapman, 
of Maryland, was made the presiding officer. The Southern 
delegates fortified themselves before the meeting of the 
convention by a caucus declaration of the party platform, 
and it was an open secret that if the convention accepted the 
platform, enough Southern men would support Scott to 
give him the nomination. They knew that Fillmore could 
not be elected, and that Webster was even weaker than 
Fillmore, and they were willing to accept Scott, who was 
the candidate of the antislavery element of the party, if 
the Compromise Measures were squarely affirmed by the 
party convention, while Scott was willing to accept the 
nomination with any platform the convention might formu- 
late. Fillmore had carried the Compromise Measures and 
forced the Whigs to accept them in the party platform, but 
the insincerity of that expression was manifested by the 
refusal to nominate Fillmore, and by the nomination of 
Scott, who represented the anti-Compromise Whigs of the 
country. There were 53 ballots for President, but during 
the long struggle there was little exhibition of ill-temper. 
Scott started with 131 to 133 for Fillmore and 29 for 
Webster, and ended with 159 for Scott to 112 for Fillmore 
and 21 for Webster. The following table presents the ballots 
in detail : 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



BALLOTS. 


-t-j 

o 
o 

CO 


U 
O 

| 


u 
i) 

03 


BALLOTS. 


o 
o 


u 
o 

a 


09 

V 


1 


131 
133 
133 
134 
130 
133 
131 
133 
133 
135 
134 
134 
134 
133 
133 
135 
132 
132 
132 
132 
133 
132 
132 
133 
133 
134 
134 


133 

131 
131 
130 
133 
131 
133 
131 
133 
130 
131 
130 
130 
130 
130 
129 
131 
131 
131 
131 
131 
130 
130 
129 
128 
128 
128 


29 

29 
29 
29 
30 
29 
28 
28 
29 
29 
28 
28 
28 
29 
29 
28 
29 
28 
29 
29 
28 
30 
30 
30 
31 
30 
30 


28 


134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
134 
136 
133 
136 
134 
132 
132 
134 
134 
133 
133 
134 
135 
137 
139 
142 
142 
146 
159 
choos 


128 
128 
128 
128 
128 
128 
126 
128 
127 
128 
127 
128 
129 
129 
128 
128 
129 
127 
127 
129 
124 
122 
122 
120 
119 
112 
e, 147 


30 


2 


29 


30 


3 


30 


29 


4 


31 


30 


5 


32 


30 


6 


33 


29 


7 


34 


28 


8 


35 


28 


9 


36 


28 


10 


37 


28 


11 


38 


29 


13 


39 


30 


13 . . , 


40 


32 


14 


41 


32 


15 


42 


30 


16 


43 


30 


17 


44 


30 


18 


45 


32 


19 


46 


31 


20 


47 


29 


21 


48 


30 


22 


49 


30 


23 


50 


28 


24 


51 


29 


25 


52 


27 


26 


53 


21 


27 


Necessary to 









The nomination of Scott was made unanimous, and Will- 
iam A. Graham, of North Carolina, who was Secretary of 
the Navy under the Fillmore administration, was given a 
unanimous nomination for Vice-President on the 2d bal- 
lot. The following platform was adopted without opposi- 
tion, excepting as to the eighth and last, affirming the new 
and stringent Fugitive Slave law. After an earnest debate 
it was adopted by a vote of 212 to 70. Many of the friends 
of General Scott voted for that resolution from considera- 
tions of expediency. General Scott in his letter of acceptance 
broadly affirmed the platform in its entirety. 

The Whigs of the United States, in convention assembled, ad- 
hering to the great conservative principles by which they are con- 
trolled and governed, and now, as ever, relying upon the intelli- 

121 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

gence of the American people, with an abiding confidence in their 
capacity for self-government, and their devotion to the Constitution 
and the Union, do proclaim the following as the political senti- 
ments and determination for the establishment and maintenance of 
which their national organization as a party was effected : 

First. The Government of the United States is of a limited char- 
acter, and it is confined to the exercise of powers expressly granted 
by the Constitution, and such as may be necessary and proper for 
carrying the granted powers into full execution, and that powers 
not granted or necessarily implied are reserved to the States respec- 
tively and to the people. 

Second. The State governments should be held secure to their 
reserved rights, and the General Government sustained on its con- 
stitutional powers, and that the Union should be revered and watched 
over as the palladium of our liberties. 

Third. That while struggling freedom everywhere enlists the 
warmest sympathy of the Whig party, we still adhere to the doc- 
trines of the Father of his Country, as announced in his Farewell 
Address, of keeping ourselves free from all entangling alliances with 
foreign countries, and of never quitting our own to stand upon 
foreign ground ; that our mission as a republic is not to propagate 
our opinions, or impose on other countries our forms of government 
by artifice or force ; but to teach by example, and show by our suc- 
cess, moderation and justice, the blessings of self-government and 
the advantage of free institutions. 

Fourth. That, as the people make and control the Government, 
they should obey its Constitution, laws, and treaties, as they would 
retain their self-respect and the respect which they claim and will 
enforce from foreign powers. 

Fifth. That the Government should be conducted on principles 
of the strictest economy; and revenue sufficient for the expenses 
thereof, in time of peace, ought to be mainly derived from a duty 
on imports, and not from direct taxes ; and in laying such duties 
sound policy requires a just discrimination, and protection from 
fraud by specific duties, when practicable, whereby suitable encour- 
agement may be afforded to American industry, equally to all classes 
and to all portions of the country. 

Sixth. The Constitution vests in Congress the power to open and 
repair harbors, and remove obstructions from navigable rivers, 
whenever such improvements are necessary for the common de- 
fence and for the protection and facility of commerce with foreign 
nations or among the States — said improvements being in every 
instance national and general in their character. 

Seventh. The Federal and State governments are parts of one 
system, alike necessary for the common prosperity, peace and secu- 
rity, and ought to be regarded alike with a cordial, habitual, and 
immovable attachment. Respect for the authority of each, ape" 
acquiescence in the just constitutional measures of each, are duties 
required by the plainest considerations of national, State and indi- 
vidual welfare. 

Eighth. That the series of acts of the Thirty-second Congress, 
the act known as the Fugitive Slave law included, are received anc" 
acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States as a settle- 
ment in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting ques- 

122 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

tions which they embrace; and, so far as they are concerned, we 
will maintain them, and insist upon their strict enforcement, until 
time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legis- 
lation to guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand and 
the abuse of their powers on the other, not impairing their present 
efficiency; and we deprecate all further agitation of the question 
thus settled, as dangerous to our peace, and will discountenance 
all efforts to continue or renew such agitation, whenever, wherever, 
•or however the attempt may be made; and we will maintain this 
system as essential to the nationality of the Whig party and the 
integrity of the Union. 

The Compromise Measures were pressed upon the country 
as a finality, and the Democrats, with all of the Southern 
Whigs and many Northern Whigs, accepted them as such. 
Had the Pierce administration permitted the slave issue to 
rest on the Compromise Measures, it is probable that the 
birth of the Republican party would have been long post- 
poned, but the repeal of the Missouri Compromise gave fresh 
vitality to the slavery dispute and quickened the antislavery 
sentiment of the country to the aggressive battle that culmi- 
nated in the election of Lincoln in i860. 

The Free-Soil Democrats called a national convention to 
meet at Pittsburg on the nth of August, over which Henry 
Wilson, of Massachusetts, presided. John P. Hale, of New 
Hampshire, was nominated for President, and George W. 
Julian, of Indiana, for Vice-President without the formality 
of a ballot. The following platform was adopted : 

Having assembled in national convention as the Democracy of the 
United States ; united by a common resolve to maintain right against 
wrong and freedom against slavery; confiding in the intelligence, 
patriotism, and discriminating justice of the American people; 
putting our trust in God for the triumph of our cause, and invok- 
ing His guidance in our endeavors to advance it — we now submit 
to the candid judgment of all men the following declaration of prin- 
ciples and measures : 

1. That governments deriving their just powers from the consent 
of the governed are instituted among men to secure to all those 
unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with 
which they are endowed by their Creator, and of which none can 
be deprived by valid legislation, except for crime. 

2. That^ the true mission of American Democracy is to maintain 
the liberties of the people, the sovereignty of the States, and the 
perpetuity of the Union, by the impartial application to public af- 
fairs, without sectional discriminations, of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of human rights, strict justice, and an economical adminis- 
tration. 

3. That the Federal Government is one of limited powers, derived 
solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power therein ought 

123 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the Gov- 
ernment, and it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful 
constitutional powers. . , 

4 That the Constitution of the United States, ordained to form 
a more perfect Union, to establish justice, and secure the blessings 
of liberty, expressly denies to the General Government all power 
to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process 
of law; and, therefore, the Government, having no more power to 
make a slave than to make a king, and no more power to establish 
slavery than to establish a monarchy, should at once proceed 
to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence of slavery 
wherever it possesses constitutional power to legislate tor its 

e Y n That to the persevering and importunate demand of the slave 
power for' more Slave States, new Slave Territories, and the nation- 
alization of slavery, our distinct and final answer is: No more Slave 
States, no Slave Territory, no nationalized slavery, and no national 
legislation for the extradition of slaves. 

6 That slavery is a sin against God and a crime against man 
which no human enactment or usage can make right; and that 
Christianity, humanity, and patriotism alike demand its abolition 

7 That the Fugitive Slave act of 1850 is repugnant to the Con- 
stitution, to the principles of the common law to the .spirit of 
Christianity, and to the sentiments of the civilized world. We 
therefore deny its binding force upon the American people, and 
demand its immediate and total repeal. . , ,, v « nnf 

8 That the doctrine that any human law is a finality, and not 
subject to modification or repeal, is not in acco rdance with the 
creed of the founders of our Government, and is dangerous to the 
liberties of the people. . „ *«• c 

o That the acts of Congress known as the Compromise Meas- 
ures of 1850— bv making the admission of a sovereign State con- 
tingent upon the adoption of other measures demanded by the spe- 
cial Merest of slavery; by their omission to guarantee freedom in 
the Free Territories; by their attempt to impose unconstitutional 
limitatTons on the power" of Congress and the people to admit new 
States- by their provisions for the assumption of five millions of 
the State debt of Texas, and for the payment of five millions more 
and the cession of a large territory to the same State under menace 
aV an inducement to the relinquishment of a groundless claim ; and 
by the? in™ of the sovereignty of the States and the liberties 
of the people, through the enactment of an unjust, oppressive and 
Snconstitutional Fugitive Slave law-are proved to be inconsistent 
with all the principles and maxims of Democracy and wholly inad- 
equate to the settlement of the questions of which they are claimed 

to £ Tha^ U o St p m e e rmanent settlement of the slavery _«!-**« |tt 

looked for except in the practical recognition of the truth that 
slavery is sectional and freedom national ; by the total separation 
of the General Government from slavery, and the exercise of its 
legitimate and constitutional influence on the side of freedom, and 
bv leaving to the States the whole subject of slavery and the extra- 
rlition of fugitives from service. . , .. . 

1° That 111 men have a natural right to a portion of the soil; 

124 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

and that, as the use of the soil is indispensable to life, the right of 
all men to the soil is as sacred as their right to life itself. 

12. That the public lands of the United States belong to the 
people, and should not be sold to individuals nor granted to cor- 
porations, but should be held as a sacred trust for the benefit of the 
people, and should be granted in limited quantities, free of cost, to 
landless settlers. 

13. That a due regard for the Federal Constitution and a sound 
administrative policy demands that the funds of the General Gov- 
ernment be kept separate from banking institutions ; that inland and 
ocean postage should be reduced to the lowest possible point; that 
no more revenue should be raised than is required to defray the 
strictly necessary expenses of the public service, and to pay off the 
public debt; and that the power and patronage of the Government 
should be diminished, by the abolition of all unnecessary offices, 
salaries, and privileges, and by the election, by the people, of all 
civil officers in the service of the United States, so far as may be 
consistent with the prompt and efficient transaction of the public 
business. 

14. That river and harbor improvements, when necessary to the 
safety and convenience of commerce with foreign nations or among 
the several States, are objects of national concern; and it is the 
duty of Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to pro- 
vide for the same. 

15. That emigrants and exiles from the Old World should find 
a cordial welcome to homes of comfort and fields of enterprise in 
the New; and every attempt to abridge their privilege of becoming 
citizens and owners of soil among us ought to be resisted with in- 
flexible determination. 

16. That every nation has a clear right to alter or change its 
own government, and to administer its own concerns, in such a 
manner as may best secure the rights and promote the happiness of 
the people ; and foreign interference with that right is a dangerous 
violation of the laws of nations, against which all independent gov- 
ernments should protest, and endeavor by all proper means to pre- 
vent ; and especially is it the duty of the American Government, 
representing the chief republic of the world, to protest against, and 
by all proper means to prevent, the intervention of kings and em- 
perors against nations seeking to establish for themselves repub- 
lican or constitutional governments. 

17. That the independence of Hayti ought to be recognized 
our Government, and our commercial relations with it placed on 
footing of the most favored nation. 

18. That as, by the Constitution, the " citizens of each State shall 
be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the 
several States," the practice of imprisoning colored seamen of other 
States, while the vessels to which they belong lie in port, and re- 
fusing the exercise of the right to bring such cases before the Su- 
preme Court of the United States, to test the legality of such pro- 
ceedings, is a flagrant violation of the Constitution, and an invasion 
of the rights of the citizens of other States, utterly inconsistent 
with the professions made by the slaveholders, that they wish the 
provisions of the Constitution faithfully observed by every State in 
the Union. 

125 



* 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

19. That we recommend the introduction into all treaties here- 
after to be negotiated between the United States and foreign 
nations, of some provision for the amicable settlement of difficulties 
by a resort to decisive arbitration. 

20. That the Free Democratic party is not organized to aid either 
the Whig or the Democratic wing of the great slave-compromise 
party of the nation, but to defeat them both ; and that, repudiating 
and renouncing both as hopelessly corrupt and utterly unworthy of 
confidence, the purpose of the Free Democracy is to take possession 
of the Federal Government, and administer it for the better pro- 
tection of the rights and interests of the whole people. 

21. That we inscribe on our banner, " Free soil, free speech, free 
labor, and free men ! " and under it will fight on and fight ever 
until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions. 

22. That upon this platform the convention presents to the Ameri- 
can people as a candidate for the office of President of the United 
States, John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and as a candidate for the 
office of Vice-President of the United States, George W. Julian, of 
Indiana, and earnestly commends them to the support of all free 
men and all parties. 

The contest of 1852 was a hopeless one for the Whigs 
from the start. General Scott had great faith in his own 
election, but he stood almost entirely alone in that confidence. 
After the disastrous October elections he took the stump 
against the advice of his more discreet friends, and delivered 
a number of campaign speeches, which are now remembered 
chiefly because of his flattery to the foreign vote, compli- 
menting the " rich Irish brogue" and " the sweet German 
accent" of many of his supporters. The result was that 
Pierce, a man who had never been discussed for the Presi- 
dency, but had been brought out as the " dark horse" at 
the national convention, carried every State in the Union 
but four — Massachusetts and Vermont, in the North, and 
Kentucky and Tennessee, in the South. The following is 
the popular and electoral vote : 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



STATES. 



Maine , 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts.. , 
Rhode Island . . , 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania . . , 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

North Carolina. . 
South Carolina* 

Georgia 

Alabama 

Florida 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Missouri 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

California 

Totals 



Popular Vote. 






41,609 
29,997 
13,044 
44,569 
8,735 
33,249 

262,083 
44,305 

198,568 

6,318 

40,020 

73,858 

39,744 

34,705 
26,881 
4,318 
26,876 
18,647 
13,552 
12,179 
38,353 
57,018 
53,806 
169,220 
41,842 
95,340 
80,597 
33,658 
17,763 
40,626 



1,601,274 



co 
a 1 ^ 



32,543 
16,147 
22,173 
52,683 
7,626 
30,357 

234,882 
38,556 

179,174 

6,293 

35,066 

58,572 

39,058 

16,660 
15,038 

2,875 

17,548 

17,255 

4,995 

7,404 

29,984 

58,898 

. 57,068 

152,526 

33,859 

80,901 

64,934 

22,240 

15,856 

35,407 



1,386,580 



H M 



O 



8,030 

6,695 

8,621 

28,023 

644 

3,160 

25,329 

350 

8,525 

62 

54 



31,682 
7,237 
6,929 
9,966 
8,814 
1,604 
100 



155,825 



Electors. 



Oh 



4 
6 

35 

7 
27- 

3 

8 
15 
10 

8 
10 

9 

3 

7 

6 

4 

4 

9 



23 
6 

13 

11 

5 

4 

4 



254 



CO 



5 
13 



12 
12 



42 



* Chosen by Legislature. 

President Pierce could have had a tranquil administration 
and generally maintained sectional peace if he had not 
wantonly reopened the slavery issue by assenting to the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise and making it a Demo- 
cratic measure. Kansas and Nebraska, which were north 



127 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

of the Missouri line, whose territory had been solemnly 
dedicated to freedom by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, 
that admitted Missouri as a Slave State, were coveted by 
the slavery extensionists, and they decided not only against 
the solemnly plighted faith of the nation, but, in disregard 
of climatic objections, to force slavery in both of those 
Territories and make them Slave States. The slavery propa- 
gandists had failed to gather any substantial fruits for 
slavery from our Mexican acquisitions, and in the despera- 
tion of the suicide they resolved to force slavery into Kansas 
and Nebraska by a system of violence that was generally 
described at that time as "' border ruffianism," and that 
made the name of John Brown immortal. 

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was the beginning 
of the end of slavery. It was noticed that there could be no 
peace with Northern industry and progress advancing 
rapidly and hastening the formation of new States, while 
the South was standing still. A number of new and very 
able men had been called into the political arena by the 
slavery agitation. Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, and Charles 
Sumner, of Massachusetts, were both elected to the Senate 
by a solid Democratic vote, united with the Free Soilers of 
their respective Legislatures. Henry Wilson, the " Natick 
Cobbler." had become more potent in Massachusetts than 
was Webster at the time of his death ; and the antislavery 
sentiment was visibly and speedily growing toward immense 
proportions. 

The Y\ nig party made its final battle in 1852, although 
it was nominally in the field in 1856, and a new party was 
created out of the odds and ends of the old Native American 
party. Opposition to Catholics had been intensified by 
Pierce appointing Judge Campbell, of Philadelphia. Post- 
master-General. He was a very able and faithful Cabinet 
officer, and there was no pretence that his religious views 
in any way influenced his official appointments, but it revived 
the embers of Native Americanism, and the great mass of 
the Whigs, who knew that the Whig party had practically 
perished, and the antislavery Democrats were without 
political vocations. They were like the Federalists who 
first found refuge in anti-Masonry, and with anti-Masonry 
afterward found refuge in the Whig party. The result was 
the very rapid spread of the new American, or what was 
commonly called the Know-Nothing party, with secret 

128 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

lodges and its members all sworn not to divulge the move- 
ments of the organization and to vote for its nominated 
candidates. It exhibited wonderful strength in many locali- 
ties early in 1854, and it was not uncommon in local elections, 
when the vote was counted, to find that all the officers 
elected were unknown to the public as candidates. Its first 
important triumph was in the municipal election of Phila- 
delphia in May, 1854, when Judge Conrad, candidate of the 
Whigs and secret candidate of the Know-Nothings, was 
elected Mayor by an overwhelming majority. 

The Democrats lost a large number of their ablest men 
on the slavery issue, provoked to defection by the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise, and it was evident that the party 
would be divided in the next national campaign; but the 
various elements of opposition were even more incongruous 
and had little prospect of anything approaching the unity 
necessary to succeed. Pierce, like Fillmore, Polk, and 
Tyler, was a candidate for re-election, but failed disas- 
trously in his own convention after wielding the power of 
his position to the uttermost, and his administration ended 
with the country rent by sectional feuds and gravely threat- 
ened with fraternal war. 



THE BUCHANAN-FREMONT-FILL- 
MORE CONTEST 

1856 

The Presidential battle of 1856, that gave Pennsylvania 
her only President in James Buchanan, is memorable chiefly 
because it dated the birth of the Republican party as a 
national organization, that was destined to conduct the great- 
est civil war of modern history, to abolish slavery, maintain 
its power uninterruptedly for a quarter of a century, and to 
write the most lustrous chapters in the annals of the Repub- 
lic. 

The Democrats were greatly demoralized by the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise, and they suffered the aggressive 
defection of a number of Democratic leaders with large 
popular following, but the various shades of opposition to 
the Democracy were even more hopelessly divided. The 
Democrats had the advantage of being able to command a 
solid vote from the South on a square slavery issue, and they 
reasonably hoped that they could hold enough States in the 
North to give them success. Buchanan had been abroad as 
Minister during the troublesome times of the Pierce adminis- 
tration, and he returned just in good time to make the most 
out of the disturbed situation that confronted him. The re- 
nomination and re-election of Pierce were hopeless. Cass 
had been defeated by the people and suffered repeated de- 
feats in national conventions. Buchanan thus had a strong 
lead for the Presidential nomination, and he was most for- 
tunate in having the accomplished, devoted, and tireless 
Colonel Forney to manage his campaign, not only for the 
nomination, but to direct the national contest in the few 
Northern States which could be held to the Democratic flag. 

The Southern leaders had absolute confidence in Bu- 
chanan, and they were entirely justified in their faith. He 

130 




JAMES BUCHANAN 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

had been a Federal member of Congress in early days, and 
later entered the Democratic party with all the strict con- 
struction ideas of Federalism, which were then in harmony 
with the Democratic policy as applied to the slavery issue. 
He was the logical Democratic candidate for President in 
1856; and President Pierce, an utterly impossible candidate, 
as it was known that he never could command the necessary 
two-thirds vote in the convention, was his only serious com- 
petitor when the balloting began. 

The Democratic National Convention met in Cincinnati 
on the 26. of June, with full delegations from every State, and 
two contesting delegations from New York and Missouri. 
The quarrel between the factions in both States was intensely 
bitter. The opposing factions of New York were known as 
the " Hards," who were a spawn of the old Hunkers, and the 
" Softs," who took the place of the Barnburners. The Mis- 
souri delegations were known as the Bentonites and the Reg- 
ulars, the Bentonites having lost the control of the party or- 
ganization in the State. The convention solved the problem 
by admitting both delegations from each State, and giving 
each delegate only half a vote. John E. Ward, of Georgia, 
was made the permanent president, and the two-thirds rule 
was reaffirmed without a contest. 

It was at this convention that Stephen A. Douglas first 
developed as an aggressive candidate for President, and as 
he had led the battle for the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise, he was in harmony with the Pierce administration. 
As will be seen by the ballots, his strength was almost wholly 
given to Pierce until Pierce's unavailability was clearly es- 
tablished, when the Pierce vote was mostly transferred to 
Douglas. The following table presents the 17 ballots in 
detail, resulting in the nomination of Buchanan : 



BALLOTS. 



l 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 



a 






«S 




Efl 


c 




c« 


03 


<u 




A 





be 







3 


3 







PQ 


Ph 


Q 


135 


122 


33 


139 


119K 


^A 


139^ 


119 


32 


141^ 


119 


30 


140 


119K 


31 


155 


11% 


28 



5 
6 

5K 



131 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



BALLOTS. 


p 

cd 

C 
§ 

3 


o 

O 


35 

Hi 

O 
P 


00 
03 

o 


7 


143^ 

146 

150K 

147^ 

148 

150 

152^ 

168^ 

168 
296 


89 
87 
87 

80^ 

80 

79 

75 


58 

56 

56 

59^ 

63 

63^ 

63 " 

63 

118K 

121 




8 


9 


7 


10 


5K 

$A 

4K 
6 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 









As Buchanan was from the North, the Vice-Presidency 
was conceded to the South, and io candidates were placed in 
nomination. The ist ballot resulted as follows: 



J. A. Quitman, Miss 59 

Linn Boyd, Ky 33 

A. V. Brown, Tenn 29 

J. A. Bayard, Del 31 

T. J. Rusk, Texas 2 



J. C. Breckenridge, Ky 55 

B. Fitzpatrick, Ala 11 

H. V. Johnson, Ga 31 

Trusten Polk, Mo 5 

J. C. Dobbin, N. C 13 



When the 2d ballot was called, a number of the candi- 
dates had their names withdrawn, and Mr. Breckenridge 
w T as given a unanimous nomination. He was the idol of the 
young Democracy of the South, having won his spurs by two 
of the most remarkable Congressional campaigns in the his- 
tory of Kentucky, in which he had defeated Governor 
Letcher and Leslie Combs, two of the ablest of the old Clay 
leaders in the Ashland district. His success was due entirely 
to his own personal popularity. QTe was not only one of the 
ablest of all the Breckenridges, but he was a most accom- 
plished, genial, and delightful companion, and his nomina- 
tion greatly strengthened the Democratic ticket in all sec- 
tions of the country. ]J 

The platform was finally adopted without a contest. It 
recited first the preamble adopted in 1844, followed by ten 
resolutions from other previous platforms, embracing the 
first five of 1840, and others embracing the Democratic views 
on the proceeds of the public land; in opposition to a na- 



132 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

tional bank ; in favor of the subtreasury system ; in support 
of the veto power, and opposing any new limitations upon/ % 
naturalization. To these the following new resolutions were 
added : 

And whereas, Since the foregoing declaration was uniformly 
adopted by our predecessors in national convention, an adverse 
political and religious test has been secretly organized by a party 
claiming to be exclusively American, and it is proper that the Ameri- 
can Democracy should clearly define its relations thereto, and de- 
clare its determined opposition to all secret political societies, by 
whatever name they may be called — 

Resolved, That the foundation of this Union of States having been 
laid in, and its prosperity, expansion, and pre-eminent example of 
free government built upon entire freedom in matters of religious 
concernment, and no respect of persons in regard to rank or place 
or birth, no party can be justly deemed national, constitutional, or 
in accordance with American principles which bases its exclusive 
organization upon religious opinions and accidental birthplace. And 
hence a political crusade in the nineteenth century, and in the United 
States of America, against Catholics and foreign-born, is neither 
justified by the past history nor future prospects of the country, nor 
in unison with the spirit of toleration and enlightened freedom 
which peculiarly distinguishes the American system of popular 
government. 

Resolved, That we reiterate with renewed energy of purpose the 
well-considered declarations of former conventions upon the sec- 
tional issue of domestic slavery and concerning the reserved rights 
of the States — 

i. That Congress has no power under the Constitution to inter- 
fere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, 
and that all such States are the sole and proper judges of everything 
appertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by the Constitution; 
that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others made to induce Congress 
to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in 
relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and 
dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable 
tendency to diminish the happiness of the people and endanger the 
stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be coun- 
tenanced by any friend of our political institutions. 

2. That the foregoing covers, and was intended to embrace, the 
whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress, and therefore the 
Democratic party of the Union, standing on this national platform, 
will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known 
as the " Compromise " Measures, settled by the Congress of 1850, the 
act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor included ; which 
act, being designed to carry out an express provision of the Con- 
stitution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as 
to destroy or impair its efficiency. 

3. That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing, 
in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under 
whatever shape or color the attempt may be made. 

4. The Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the 

133 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

principle laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1797 
and 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legisla- 
ture in 1799; that it adopts these principles as constituting one of 
the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry 
them out in their obvious meaning and import. 

And that we may more distinctly meet the issue on which a 
sectional party, subsisting exclusively on slavery agitation, now re- 
lies to test the fidelity of the people, North and South, to the Con- 
stitution and the Union — 

1. Resolved, That, claiming fellowship with and desiring the co- 
operation of all w r ho regard the preservation of the Union under 
the Constitution as the paramount issue, and repudiating all sec- 
tional issues and platforms concerning domestic slavery which seek 
to embroil the States and incite to treason and armed resistance to 
law in the Territories, and whose avowed purpose, if consummated, 
must end in civil war and disunion, the American Democracy rec- 
ognize and adopt the principles contained in the organic laws estab- 
lishing the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas as embodying the 
only sound and safe solution of the slavery question, upon which the 
great national idea of the people of this whole country can repose 
in its determined conservation of the Union, and non-interference 
of Congress with slavery in the Territories or in the District of 
Columbia. 

2. That this was the basis of the compromise of 1850, confirmed 
by both the Democratic and Whig parties in national conventions, 
ratified by the people in the election of 1852, and rightly applied to 
the organization of the Territories in 1854. 

3. That by the uniform application of the Democratic principle 
to the organization of Territories, and the admission of new States 
with or without domestic slavery, as they may elect, the equal rights 
of all the States will be preserved intact, the original compacts of the 
Constitution maintained inviolate, and the perpetuity and expan- 
sion of the Union insured to its utmost capacity of embracing, in 
peace and harmony, every future American State that may be con- 
stituted or annexed with a republican form of government. 

Resolved, That we recognize the right of the people of all the 
Territories, including Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the 
legally and fairly expressed will of the majority of the actual resi- 
dents, and whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies it, 
to form a constitution, with or without domestic slavery, and be 
admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the 
other States. 

Resolved, Finally, that in view of the condition of popular in- 
stitutions in the Old World (and the dangerous tendencies of sec- 
tional agitation, combined with the attempt to enforce civil and 
religious disabilities against the rights of acquiring and enjoying 
citizenship in our own land), a high and sacred duty is devolved, 
with increased responsibility, upon the Democratic party of this 
country, as the party of the Union, to uphold and maintain the 
rights of every State, and thereby the Union of the States ; and to 
sustain and advance among us constitutional liberty, by continuing 
to resist all monopolies and exclusive legislation for the benefit of 
the few at the expense of the many ; and by a vigilant and constant 
adherence to those principles and compromises of the Constitution 

134 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

which are broad enough and strong enough to embrace and uphold 
the Union as it was, the Union as it is, and the Union as it shall 
be, in the full expansion of the energies and capacity of this great 
and progressive people. 

i. Resolved, That there are questions connected with the foreign 
policy of this country which are inferior to no domestic question 
whatever. The time has come for the people of the United States 
to declare themselves in favor of free seas, and progressive free 
trade throughout the world, and by solemn manifestations to place 
their moral influence at the side of their successful example. 

2. Resolved, That our geographical and political position with 
reference to the other States of this continent, no less than the in- 
terest of our commerce and the development of our growing power, 
requires that we should hold sacred the principles involved in the 
Monroe Doctrine. Their bearing and import admit of no miscon- 
struction, and should be applied with unbending rigidity. 

3. Resolved, That the great highway, which nature as well as 
the assent of States most immediately interested in its maintenance 
has marked out for free communication between the Atlantic and the 
Pacific oceans, constitutes one of the most important achievements 
realized by the spirit of modern times, in the unconquerable energy 
of our people; and that result would be secured by a timely and 
efficient exertion of the control which we have the right to claim 
over it ; and no power on earth should be suffered to impede or clog 
its progress by any interference with relations that it may suit our 
policy to establish between our Government and the governments of 
the States within whose dominions it lies. We can, under no circum- 
stances, surrender our preponderance in the adjustment of all ques- 
tions arising out of it. 

4. Resolved, That, in view of so commanding an interest, the 
people of the United States cannot but sympathize with the efforts 
which are being made by the people of Central America to regen- 
erate that portion of the continent which covers the passage across 
the inter-oceanic isthmus. 

5. Resolved, That the Democratic party will expect of the next 
administration that every proper effort be made to insure our as- 
cendancy in the Gulf of Mexico, and to maintain permanent pro- 
tection to the great outlets through which are emptied into its waters 
the products raised out of the soil and the commodities created by 
the industry of the people of our Western valleys and of the Union 
at large. 

Resolved, That the administration of Franklin Pierce has been 
true to Democratic principles, and therefore true to the great inter- 
ests of the country. In the face of violent opposition he has main- 
tained the laws at home, and vindicated the rights of American 
citizens abroad ; and therefore we proclaim our unqualified admira- 
tion of his measures and policy. 

When Buchanan was nominated for President everything 
indicated his election by a very large majority and without 
a serious struggle. It was evident to all that the antislavery 
sentiment was making rapid strides in the North. The 
Democrats felt certain of a solid vote in the South, and they 

135 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

did not regard it as possible for the Republican party to 
unite the American and conservative Whig elements to 
sufficient extent to enable it to make a hopeful contest 
in Pennsylvania, New York, and the Western Democratic 
States ; but very soon after the meeting of the first Repub- 
lican National Convention the new party grew with such 
rapidity that the Democratic leaders finally looked the fact 
in the face that they had a very desperate and doubtful 
contest before them. 

The Republican party first appeared in the political arena 
in 1854. It had then a small organization in New York 
State, and cast a sufficient number of votes to elect Clark, 
the Whig candidate, for Governor, over Seymour, the 
Democratic candidate, who lost the Governorship by 309 
majority. I was at the cradle of the Republican party ; was 
a delegate to its first State convention, held in Pittsburg, 
Penn., in 1855. It was a mass convention, composed of 
a loose aggregation of political free-thinkers, but a number 
of very able men, including Giddings and Bingham, of 
Ohio, and^Allison, of Pennsylvania, who presided, delivered 
addresses.c.There was but one State office to fill in Pennsyl- 
vania, that of Canal Commissioner. The convention was 
made up very largely of the aggressive Abolition element 
of the State, small in number, but bold and. assertive in 
action, as was shown by the spontaneous nomination of 
Passmore Williamson, who was then in prison for contempt 
of court in a fugitive slave case. The nomination was 
resented by all the conservative Whigs and by the Ameri- 
cans, and without the votes of those parties the Republican 
organization could not carry a township in the State. 
Williamson was finally persuaded to retire, and the Whig, 
American, and Republican committees united on Thomas 
Nicholson, of Beaver, but the elements were too discordant, 
and the State was lost by some 12,000. 

I was a delegate to the first Republican National Conven- 
tion, that met in Philadelphia on the 17th of June, 1856. It 
was also a mass convention, as the party had no organization, 
and States sent large or small delegations as was most 
convenient. I went to the convention, hoping to aid in 
the nomination of Judge McLean for President, who was 
sufficiently conservative to command both the Whig and 
American votes, and I had no faith whatever in the success 
of a distinctive Republican candidate and party. I was 

136 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

surprised to find the Republicans of New England and of 
New York who were attending the convention in favor of 
a radical Republican policy, and I was so much dissatisfied 
with the evident outcome of the convention that, although 
I attended its first session, I did not enroll as a delegate, 
and did not participate in any of its important proceedings. 
I well remember meeting Mr. Greeley among the first of 
those who came to the convention, and wondered how he 
had lost all his political cunning when he told me, in the 
most enthusiastic way, that Fremont would carry New York 
by 50,000 majority, and that the Republican party would be 
sufficiently strong to win the battle without any concessions 
whatever to the other elements opposed to the Democratic 
party. I had no faith in Fremont, either as a candidate or 
as a President. I shared the general conservative Whig 
sentiment of Pennsylvania that the Republican convention 
in nominating Fremont on a square-toed Republican plat- 
form was altogether too " wild and woolley" in flavor to 
win at the election. Greeley was mistaken as to New York 
only in making the Republican majority one-third less than 
it turned up on election night, when Fremont had nearly as 
many votes as Buchanan and Fillmore combined. 

The nomination of Fremont was engineered by some of 
the shrewdest of the old Democratic leaders, most conspicu- 
ous of whom was the elder Francis P. Blair, who had been 
one of the most sagacious of the Democratic politicians 
during the administrations of Jackson, Van Buren, and 
Polk. They believed it best to take a candidate for the 
Presidency who had no political record whatever to antago- 
nize the conflicting political views which must be united to 
give the party success ; and Fremont was young, had served 
in the army with credit, had made what then were regarded 
as wonderful explorations in the Rocky Mountains, and had 
the distinction of having been forced to retire from the 
army for what was claimed to have been conspicuously 
heroic and patriotic action on his part. He had never said 
anything or done anything to offend any political prejudice. 
It turned out that he was strongest where he was least 
known. The old California Forty-niners, who were back in 
Pennsylvania, and some of them prominent in politics, did 
not enthuse over Fremont's nomination. I distinctly recollect 
the trite summing up of Fremont's qualities by one who had 
been with him in California by saying ; " Fremont is a 

137 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

millionaire without a dollar, a soldier who never fought a 
battle, and a statesman who never made a speech :" but that 
his nomination was altogether the strongest that could have 
been made in the Philadelphia convention cannot be doubted 
by any who study the history of that contest and the marvel- 
lous political revolution it wrought. Henry S. Lane, of In- 
diana, presided over the convention, and a single ballot was 
had for President, as follows: 



STATES. 


7re~:-: 


■>/-.- - - _ 


Maine 


13 
15 
15 
39 
12 
15 

93 

- 

10 

4 
30 
:s 
14 
IS 
15 
12 
- 

5 
13 


11 






Massac -use"* 


3 


Pe""5vlva"ia 


14 
71 


C - •' ■ 


9 

3 

39 


T _ ------ 


21 


Illi-ois 


19 


V-'---- ;-;- 




Wisconsin 

Iowa 




->r. ^_._, 


3 


Kansas 






3 






California 


— 


Total*; 


359 


:^o 










The nomination of Fremont was made unanimous with 
great enthusiasm, and there was only one ballot for V: re- 
President, resulting as follows : 



William L. Dayton, N. J. . 859 

— < <*Abraham Lincoln, 111 110« 

X. ?. 3mk=. Vi== 46 

David Wilmot, Penn 43 

Charles Sumner, Mass 35 

T a::: C:l'.a~ er. ".": 15 

John A. King, X. Y 9 



S. C. Pomeroy, Kan 8 

'homas Ford, Ohio 7 

Henry Wilson, Mass 5 

Cassius M. Clay. Ky 4 

Henry C. Carey, Penn. 3 

Wm. F. Johnston* Penn 2 



138 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Mr. Dayton was then declared the nominee of the conven- 
tion by a unanimous vote, and the following platform was 
adopted : 

This convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call 
addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past 
political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present administra- 
tion, to the extension of slavery into Free Territory ; in favor of 
admitting Kansas as a Free State, of restoring the action of the 
Federal Government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson ; 
and who purpose to unite in presenting candidates for the offices of 
President and Vice-President, do resolve as follows : 

Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in 
the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Con- 
stitution is essential to the preservation of our republican institu- 
tions, and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and 
the union of the States, shall be preserved. 

Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it to be a 
self-evident truth, that all men are endowed with the unalienable 
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the 
primary object and ulterior designs of our Federal Government were 
to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive jurisdiction; 
that, as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in 
all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived 
of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, it becomes 
our duty to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all 
attempts to violate it for the purpose of establishing slavery in any 
Territory of the United States, by positive legislation, prohibiting 
its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of 
Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, of any individual or associa- 
tion of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Terri- 
tory of the United States while the present Constitution shall be 
maintained. 

Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign 
power over the Territories of the United States, for their govern- 
ment, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and 
the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics 
of barbarism, polygamy and slavery. 

Resolved, That while the Constitution of the United States was 
ordained and established by the people in order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro- 
vide for the common defence, and secure the blessings of liberty, 
and contains ample provision for the protection of the life, liberty, 
and property of every citizen, the dearest constitutional rights of 
the people of Kansas have been -fraudulently and violently taken 
from them ; their territory has been invaded by an armed force ; 
spurious and pretended legislative, judicial, and executive officers 
have been set over them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by 
the military power of the Government, tyrannical and unconstitu- 
tional laws have been enacted and enforced ; the rights of the 
people to keep and bear arms have been infringed; test oaths of 

139 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

an extraordinary and entangling nature have been imposed as a 
condition of exercising the right of suffrage and holding office; the 
right of an accused person to a speedy and public trial by an im- 
partial jury has been denied; the right of the people to be secure 
in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable 
searches and seizures has been violated; they have been deprived 
of life, liberty, and property without due process of law; that the 
freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged; the right to 
choose their representatives has been made of no effect; murders 1 
robberies, and arsons have been instigated and encouraged, and the 
offenders have been allowed to go unpunished; that all these things 
have been done with the knowledge, sanction, and procurement of 
the present administration; and that for this high crime against the 
Constitution, the Union, and humanity, we arraign the adminis: ra- 
tion, the President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists, and 
accessories, either before or after the fact, before the country and 
before the world, and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual 
perpetrators of these atrocious outrages, and their accomplices, to a 
sure and condign punishment hereafter. 

Resolved, That Kansas should be immediately admitted as a State 
of the Union, with her present free Constitution, as at once the 
most effectual way of securing to her citizens the enjoyment of the 
rights and privileges to which they are entitled, and of ending the 
civil strife now raging in her territory. 

Resolved, That the highwayman's plea, that "might makes right," 
embodied in the Ostend circular, was in every respect unworthy of 
American diplomacy, and would bring shame and dishonor upon any 
government or people that gave it their sanction. 

Resolved, That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, by the most central 
and practical route, is imperatively demanded by the interests of the 
whole country, and that the Federal Government ought to render 
immediate and efficient aid in its construction; and, as an auxiliary 
thereto, the. immediate construction of an emigrant route on the line 
of the railroad. 

Resolved, That appropriations by Congress for the improvement 
of rivers and harbors, of a national character, required for the ac- 
commodation and security of our existing commerce, are authorized 
by the Constitution, and justified by the obligation of Government 
to protect the lives and property of its citizens. 



The American or Know-Xothing party had become the 
leading factor of the opposition elements to Democracy in the 
elections of 1854-55. In some sections the Whig party was 
entirely obliterated, and in the South there was no organiza- 
tion opposed to Democracy but the American. The cardinal 
principle of its faith was that " Americans must rule 
America.'" and its reposition to the Catholic Church was pos- 
itive and pronounced. It had gravitated from the original 
Native -Americans of 1844 i nto tne Order of United Ameri- 
cans, and it coalesce a with the remnants of the Whig party 

14.0 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

and with the antiadministration Democrats in most of the 
Northern States. It had reached about its highest measure 
of strength in 1855, chiefly because of its strong hold in the 
South. In New England and the far Western States the 
Americans had been very generally absorbed in the Repub- 
lican organization when the battle opened for the Presidency 
in 1856. 

The American National Council was called to meet in Phil- 
adelphia on the 19th of February, 1856, and nearly all the 
States were represented. The Council was a secret body, in 
accordance with the usages of the party. After three days 
of animated discussion it adopted a party platform, and on 
the 226. of February the Council adjourned and organized 
the American National Nominating Convention. Ephraim 
Marsh, of New Jersey, was made president. An earnest 
effort was made in the convention to antagonize the right of 
the National Council to make the platform for the party. 
Mr. Killinger, of Pennsylvania, offered a resolution, declar- 
ing that the Council had no authority to prescribe a platform 
of principles, and that the convention should nominate no 
man for President or Vice-President " who is not in favor of 
interdicting the introduction of slavery into territory North 
36 30' by Congressional action," but his proposition failed 
by a vote of 141 to 59. The failure of this resolution led to 
the retirement from the convention of the more pronounced 
antislavery delegates or North Americans, as they were 
called. The convention then proceeded to ballot for Presi- 
dent as follows : 



M. Fillmore, New York 

George Law, New York 

Garrett Davis, Kentucky 

John McLean, Ohio 

R. F. Stockton, New Jersey 

Sam. Houston, Texas 

John Bell, Tennessee 

Kenneth Raynor, North Carolina 

Erastus Brooks, New York 

Lewis D. Campbell, Ohio 

John M. Clayton, Delaware 



1st 


2d 


Ballot. 


Ballot. 


71 


179 


27 


24 


13 


10 


7 


13 


8 


— 


6 


3 


5 


— 


2 


14 


2 


— 


1 


— 


1 


— 



141 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

After the 26. ballot, Mr. Fillmore was unanimously de- 
clared the nominee, and on the 1st ballot Andrew Jackson 
Donelson, of Tennessee, who was the adopted son of General 
Jackson, was nominated for Vice-President, receiving 181 
votes to 8 for Governor Gardner, of Massachusetts, 8 for 
Percy Walker, of Alabama, and 8 for Kenneth Raynor, of 
Xorth Carolina. The following platform was then unani- 
mously adopted : 



1. An humble acknowledgment of the Supreme Being, for his 
protecting care vouchsafed to our fathers in their successful Revolu- 
tionary struggle, and hitherto manifested to us, their descendants, 
in the preservation of their liberties, the independence and the union 
of these States. 

2. The perpetuation of the Federal Union and Constitution, as 
the palladium of our civil and religious liberties and the only sure 
bulwark of American independence. 

3. Americans must rule America ; and to this end native-born 
citizens should be selected for all State, Federal and municipal 
offices of Government employment, in preference to all others. 
Nevertheless, 

4. Persons born of American parents residing temporarily abroad 
should be entitled to all the rights of native-born citizens. 

5. No person should be selected for political station (whether of 
native or foreign birth) who recognizes any allegiance or obligation 
of any description to any foreign prince, potentate, or power, or who 
refuses to recognize the Federal and State Constitutions (each 
within its sphere) as paramount to all other laws as rules of political 
action. 

6. The unqualified recognition and maintenance of the reserved 
rights of the several States, and the cultivation of harmony and 
fraternal good-will between the citizens of the several States, and, 
to this end, non-interference by Congress with questions appertain- 
ing solely to the individual States, and non-intervention by each 
State with the affairs of any other State. 

7. The recognition of the right of native-born and naturalized 
citizens of the United States, permanently residing in any Territory 
thereof, to frame their constitution and laws, and to regulate their 
domestic and social affairs in their own mode, subject only to the 
provisions of the Federal Constitution, with the privilege of admis- 
sion into the Union whenever they have the requisite population for 
one representative in Congress ; provided^ ahvays, that none but 
those who are citizens of the United States, under the Constitution 
and laws thereof, and who have a fixed residence in any such Ter- 
ritory, ought to participate in the formation of a constitution or in 
the enactment of laws for said Territory or State. 

8. An enforcement of the principle that no State or Territory 
ought to admit others than citizens to the right of suffrage, or of 
holding political offices of the United States. 

9. A change in the laws of naturalization, making a continued 
residence of twenty-one years, of all not heretofore provided for, an 

142 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

indispensable requisite for citizenship hereafter, and excluding all 
paupers and persons convicted of crime from landing upon our 
shores ; but no interference with the vested rights of foreigners. 

10. Opposition to any union between Church and State; no inter- 
ference with religious faith or worship, and no test oaths for office. 

11. Free and thorough investigation into any and all alleged 
abuses of public functionaries, and a strict economy in public ex- 
penditures. 

12. The maintenance and enforcement of all laws constitutionally 
enacted, until said laws shall be repealed or shall be declared null 
and void by competent judicial authority. 

13. Opposition to the reckless and unwise policy of the present 
administration in the general management of our national affairs, 
and more especially as shown in removing "Americans" (by designa- 
tion) and conservatives in principle from office, and placing for- 
eigners and ultraists in their places; as shown in a truckling sub- 
serviency to the stronger, and an insolent and cowardly bravado 
toward the weaker powers ; as shown in reopening sectional agita- 
tion, by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise ; as shown in grant- 
ing to unnaturalized foreigners the right of suffrage in Kansas and 
Nebraska ; as shown in its vacillating course on the Kansas and 
Nebraska question ; as shown in the corruptions which pervade some 
of the departments of the Government; as shown in disgracing 
meritorious naval officers through prejudice or caprice; and as 
shown in the blundering mismanagement of our foreign relations. 

14. Therefore, to remedy existing evils, and to prevent the disas- 
trous consequences otherwise resulting therefrom, we would build 
up the "American party" upon the principles hereinbefore stated. 

15. That each State Council shall have authority to amend their 
several constitutions, so as to abolish the several degrees, and sub- 
stitute a pledge of honor, instead of other obligations, for fellowship 
and admission into the party. 

16. A free and open discussion of all political principles em- 
braced in our platform. 

The seceding delegates, consisting of the antislavery wing 
of the party and small in number, organized a convention 
of their own, and without the formality of a ballot, nom- 
inated John C. Fremont, of California, for President, and 
Ex-Governor William F. Johnston, of Pennsylvania, for 
Vice-President, but they finally supported Fremont and Day- 
ton. 

The fragments of the old Whig party met in national con- 
vention at Baltimore on the 17th of September, in which 26 
States were raggedly represented. Edward Bates, of Mis- 
souri, presided over the convention, and the proceedings 
were uneventful. Fillmore and Donelson, the candidates 
nominated by the American party, were unanimously nomi- 
nated for President and Vice-President by resolution, and 
the following platform adopted : 

143 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States, now here as- 
sembled, hereby declare their reverence for the Constitution of the 
United States, their unalterable attachment to the national Union, 
and a fixed determination to do all in their power to preserve them 
for themselves and their posterity. They have no new principles to 
announce, no new platform to establish, but are content to broadly 
rest — where their fathers rested — upon the Constitution - of the 
[Jnited States, wishing nc safer guide, no higher la". 

Resolved, That we regard with the deepest interest and anxiety 
the present disordered condition of our national affairs — a portion 
of the country ravaged by civil war, large sections of our popula- 
tion embittered by mutual recriminations; and we distinctly trace 
these calamities to the culpable neglect of duty by the present 
r.atitna! ad:rt_irustrati:n. 

Resolved, That the Government of the United States was formed 
by the conjunction in political unity of widespread geographical 
sections, materially iiffermg not only in climate and products, but 
in social and domestic institutions; and that any cause that shall 
permanently array the different se:t::r.s ::' the Ur :r. in r.:l:t::al 
h:st:lity and trgamzed parties, fttmded ::__; :r. gergrathital dis- 
tinctions, must inevitably prove fatal to a continuance of the national 
Union. 

Resolved, That the Whigs of the United States declare, as a 
fundamental rule of political faith, an absolute necessity for avoid- 
ing geographical parties. The danger so clearly discerned by the 
Father of his Country has now become fearfully apparent in the 
agitation now convulsing the nation, and must be arrested at once 
if we would preserve our Constitution and our Union from dis- 
memberment, and the name of America from being blotted out from 
the family of civilized nations. 

Resolved, That all who revere the Constitution and the Union 
must look with alarm at the parties in the field in the present Presi- 
dential campaign — one claiming only to represent sixteen Northern 
States, and the other appealing mainly to the passions and prejudices 
of the Southern States; that the success of either faction must add 
fuel to the flame which now threatens to wrap our dearest interests 
in a common ruin. 

Resolved, That the only remedy for an evil so appalling is to 
support a candidate pledged to neither of the geographical sections 
now arrayed in political antagonism, but holding both in a just and 
equal regard. We congratulate the friends of the Union that such 
a candidate exists in Millard Fillmore. 

Resolved, That, without adopting or referring to the peculiar 
doctrines of the party which has already selected Mr. Fillmore as a 
candidate, we look to him as a well-tried and faithful friend of the 
Constitution and the Union, eminent alike for his wisdom and firm- 
ness; for his justice and moderation in our foreign relations; for 
his calm and pacific temperament, so well becoming the head of a 
great nation; for his devotion to the Constitution in its true spirit; 
his inflexibility in executing the laws; but, beyond all these attri- 
butes, in ptssessing the :r.e trar.scendant merit ::' being a representa- 
tive :: neither :: the t~: se:ti:r.al ramies n: ~ struggling ttr pclit- 
i:a^_ supremacy. 

Resolved, That, in the present exigency of polititai affairs we 

I44 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

are not called upon to discuss the subordinate questions of adminis- 
tration in the exercising of the constitutional powers of the Gov- 
ernment. It is enough to know that civil war is raging, and that the 
Union is imperilled ; and we proclaim the conviction that the 
restoration of Mr. Fillmore to the Presidency will furnish the best if 
not the only means of restoring peace. 

The campaign of 1856 was one of the most desperately 
fought conflicts in the history of American politics. In some 
of the Northern States, and particularly in Pennsylvania, 
that had to be carried against Buchanan in October to give 
promise of his defeat, the American party, or the supporters 
of Fillmore and Donelson, were nearly or quite as strong as 
the distinctive Republicans. Both were opposed to the elec- 
tion of Buchanan, but they were wide apart not only on the 
slavery issue, but on the questions of citizenship and re- 
ligious proscription. As the contest warmed up the neces- 
sity for some sort of union between these elements was ac- 
cepted on both sides, and in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, 
and some other States the Americans, Republicans, and old 
Whigs united on State tickets. Illinois, while it gave its 
electoral vote to Buchanan, elected Colonel Bissell, an anti- 
slavery and anti-Buchanan Democrat, Governor, and in 
Pennsylvania the Democratic ticket was successful in Octo- 
ber only by a very small majority. 

In several of the States they harmonized on an electoral 
ticket. They did it by printing two electoral tickets for the 
two wings of the opposition. On one ticket the first can- 
didate for elector was John C. Fremont, and on the other 
ticket was the name of Millard Fillmore. The understand- 
ing was that if the Union electoral ticket succeeded, the en- 
tire vote, less the one lost by using the names of Fillmore and 
Fremont, should be cast for either candidate if thereby he 
could be elected, and if such united vote would not elect 
either candidate the vote was to be divided between Fillmore 
and Fremont, as the voters indicated by the first name at the 
head of the ticket. 

In common with the great mass of conservative Whigs 
who were at first greatly disappointed in the nomination of 
Fremont and the radical attitude of the new Republican 
party, I gradually drifted into the contest because of the 
offensive deliverances on slavery made by the Cincinnati 
platform. I knew Mr. Buchanan personally, and if I could 
have obeyed my individual preferences as to a candidate, 

145 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

would have voted for him. The slavery issue soon became so 
sharply defined that the great mass of the Whigs of the 
Xorth fell in to the support of Fremont. There was consid- 
erable defection of prominent Whigs in Buchanan's State, 
embracing the Reeds, the Ingersolls, the Whartons, the Ran- 
dalls, and others of Philadelphia, whose conservative Whig 
views, with their great personal respect for Buchanan, in- 
fluenced them to support him. Buchanan was not a mag- 
netic man, not a popular man in the common acceptation of 
the term, but he was respected by all not only for his ability, 
but for his integrity and generally blameless reputation. He 
was a very courteous gentleman, but the multitude did not 
rush into his arms as it did into the arms of Clay and Blaine, 
and it is quite probable that his bachelor life, a destiny given 
him by a devotion with tragic end, doubtless made him less 
genial than he might have been. 

Pennsylvania was the pivotal State in the contest, and 
Colonel Forney was chairman of the Democratic State Com- 
mittee. He was thoroughly familiar with the political situa- 
tion, and greatly impaired his health by his exhaustive ef- 
forts to save Buchanan in his home State. His relations with 
Buchanan were of the closest and most confidential nature, 
and each implicitly trusted the other. Buchanan knew For- 
ney's ability in the management of a great political battle, 
and there was no concealment between them as to the reward 
Forney should receive if Buchanan succeeded. Forney's 
ambition was to continue in journalism, and it was not only 
understood, but the assurance voluntarily given to Forney by 
Buchanan, that if Buchanan became President, Forney should 
conduct the national organ in Washington and receive the 
Senate printing. What was then known as the Senate print- 
ing was an abuse that had grown up from small to large pro- 
portions until it became a fortune to any man who received 
it during the period of an administration. Gales and Seaton, 
of the Xational Intelligencer, had enjoyed it for many years, 
and when Democratic administrations became more dis- 
tinctly partisan the favoritism was continued and the profits 
magnified. It was deemed a necessity for each administra- 
tion to have an organ, and it was accepted in those days as 
the Democratic oracle of the nation. By making Forney the 
editor of the administration organ at Washington with the 
Senate printing, his highest ambition in his journalistic ca- 
reer would have been gratified, with ample fortune added. 

i 4 6 









AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

So intimate were Buchanan and Forney, that Forney's fam- 
ily spent part of the summer at Wheatland, where Forney 
would occasionally tarry for a day's rest and to consult with 
his chief. 

Both parties were very confident of carrying the State in 
October, but Forney outgeneralled the leaders of the Union 
ticket by his masterful manipulation of Philadelphia, and the 
Buchanan State ticket was successful in October by 3500 
majority. Had the Buchanan State ticket been defeated, 
Buchanan's defeat for President would have been clearly 
foreshadowed, as it would doubtless have made a successful 
union on the electoral tickets in New Jersey, Indiana, and 
Illinois, as had already been done in Pennsylvania. Not- 
withstanding the loss of Pennsylvania in October, the friends 
of Fremont and Fillmore made desperate efforts to carry the 
State in November, and so well did they fight their battle that 
Buchanan's majority in the State over the combined vote of 
Fremont and Fillmore was only 1025. The Fremont and 
Fillmore people believed that they had been defrauded out 
of the October election in Pennsylvania, and Forney was 
denounced with extreme bitterness that had lost none of its 
intensity in the Senatorial fight of 1857, when the resent- 
ments of the opposition made Forney's defeat for Senator 
possible in a Democratic Legislature. 

Buchanan, Fremont, and Fillmore each bore themselves 
with great dignity during the campaign. Fillmore was not in 
sympathy with Buchanan, but he had even less sympathy for 
Fremont and the radical Republican policy he represented. 
Fremont made his home during the contest in New York, 
under the strictest orders not to discuss any political ques- 
tion, either orally or by letter, with any outside of those in 
charge of his campaign. Along with several others, I called 
upon him at his home some time before the election, simply 
to pay our respects to the man we were supporting for Presi- 
dent, and he was so extremely cautious that he evaded the 
most ordinary expressions relating to the conduct and pros- 
pects of the battle. He impressed me as possessing a 
stronger, individuality than I had credited him with, and his 
enforced policy of silence made him appear as a severely dig- 
nified gentleman with strong intellectual possibilities. But 
considering the record he made in the early part of the war, 
when he had, for the first time, opportunity to display his 
abilities, there are few who will not feel that his election to 

147 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



the Presidency might have been equally disastrous to him- 
self and to the country. 

The battle ended by the election of Buchanan, although 
Fremont carried the New England States and New York 
and the Northwestern Democratic States with the whirl of 
the tempest. The following table exhibits the popular and 
electoral vote : 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire. 

Vermont 

Massachusetts.. . 
Rhode Island . . . 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania. . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia. ....... 

North Carolina. . 
South Carolina* 

Georgia 

Alabama 

Florida 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Missouri 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin 

Iowa 

Califprnia 

Totals 



Popular Vote. 



c 

d 

S 



39,080 
32,789 
10,569 
39,240 
6,680 
34,995 

195,878 
46,943 

230,710 

8,004 

39,115 

89,706 

48,246 

56,578 

46,739 

6,358 

35,446 

22,164 

31,169 

21,910 

58,164 

73,638 

74,642 

170,874 

52,136 

118,670 

105,348 

52,843 

36,170 

53,365 



1,838,169 






67,379 

38,345 

39,561 

108,190 

11,467 

42,715 

276,007 

28,338 

147,510 

308 

281 

291 



314 
187,497 
71,762 
94,375 
93,189 
66,090 
43,954 
20,691 






3,325 

422 

545 

19,626 

1,675 

2,615 

124,604 

24,115 

82,175 

6,175 

47,460 

60,310 

36,886 

42,228 
28,552 

4,833 
24,195 
20,709 
15,639 
10,787 
48,524 
68,178 
67,416 
28,126 

1,660 

22,386 

37,444 

579 

9,180 
36,165 



1,341,264 



874,534 



Electoral 
Vote. 



7 

27 

3 

15 
10 
8 
10 
9 
3 
7 
6 
4 
4 
9 

12 
12 



13 
11 



174 



5 

5 

13 

4 

6 

35 



»23 
6 



114 



* Chosen by Legislature. 



I48 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

A quarrel between Buchanan and Forney was more far- 
reaching in its results than can well be estimated by those 
not entirely familiar with the beginning and the end of the 
dispute. During the campaign, Buchanan, greatly pressed 
with the increased correspondence that came to him, asked 
Forney to send him a competent and trustworthy secretary, 
and Buchanan, for the first time, abandoned his uniform pol- 
icy of writing all his own letters in clear, beautiful copper- 
plate style. Forney sent one of his own assistants to aid 
Buchanan, and having charge of Buchanan's correspondence 
he became cognizant of the fact that the Southern leaders 
were very generally and earnestly demanding of Buchanan 
the pledge that Forney should not be made editor of the ad- 
ministration organ. 

Buchanan parried the appeals of the Southern friends for 
some time, but finally, knowing that his election depended 
upon a united South, they became mandatory, and Buchanan, 
without advising Forney of the fact, finally gave his pledge 
that Forney should not be chosen. The secretary was in- 
dignant at this betrayal of his friend, and quietly sought For- 
ney, advised him of the fact and expressed his purpose not 
to return. Forney required the secretary to go back and 
perform his duties and take no note of what had happened. 
He was greatly disappointed, as it denied him what was the 
great ambition of his life, involving editorial distinction and 
fortune, but he believed that Buchanan had yielded to im- 
perious necessity and that he would not be allowed to suffer 
from the change. 

It was not until after the election that Buchanan informed 
Forney of the necessity of making a change in his reward, 
and Forney proposed to accept a position in the Cabinet, to 
which Buchanan would have willingly consented, but the 
same intense opposition to Forney as a Cabinet officer surged 
against him from the South. It was next proposed by Bu- 
chanan that Forney should take the Berlin mission with a lib- 
eral commercial salary added, but Mrs. Forney peremptorily 
refused to entertain it. It was finally agreed that Forney 
should be elected to the Senate. The Democrats had a ma- 
jority of three on joint ballot, and it was not doubted that 
any Democrat nominated by the caucus would be chosen. 
Henry D. Foster, a very prominent Democrat, who had been 
in Congress and who was the Democratic candidate for Gov- 
ernor in i860, was a member of the House. He was a can- 
didate for Senator, and doubtless would have been chosen 

149 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

had Forney not been suddenly injected into the field. It was 
not until the Legislature was about to meet that Forney's 
candidacy was decided upon. It required very prompt and 
positive action to secure the nomination of Forney, and 
Buchanan, with all his extreme caution under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, wrote a letter to Senator Mott urging the election 
of Forney. That letter became public and greatly exas- 
perated the friends of the other candidates, but a new Demo- 
cratic administration with the President from the State and 
just on the threshold of great political power was able to 
command the nomination for Forney, and it was accom- 
plished, but leaving many open sores. 

The Republicans and Americans of the Legislature were 
smarting under what they regarded as the fraud that Forney 
engineered to give the State to Buchanan, and they were 
quite willing to join any movement to defeat him. General 
Cameron had come into the Republican party in 1856, and 
was at the head of the electoral ticket, and he had a very 
strong hold upon some old Democratic friends. He pro- 
posed to the Republicans and Americans of the Legislature 
that if they would give him a united vote he could command 
three Democratic votes and be elected. The Union caucus, 
as it was called, appointed a committee to whom three Demo- 
crats must be shown and give their pledges to vote for 
Cameron, and if such report was made back to the caucus 
by the committee, without giving the names of the Demo- 
crats who were to vote for Cameron, the Republicans were 
pledged to vote unitedly for Cameron on the 1st ballot. 
The committee saw Representatives Lebo, Maneer, and 
Wagonseller, Democrats, who pledged themselves to vote 
for Cameron if they could elect him, and to the surprise of 
all parties except the very few who understood the arrange- 
ment, Cameron was elected Senator and Forney suffered 
a most humiliating defeat. 

After Forney's defeat for Senator, it became much more 
difficult than even before for Buchanan to reward him, as 
he doubtless felt should be done. Efforts were made to give 
him a liberal share of the post-office printing, but Forney and 
Buchanan were gradually becoming estranged, and finally 
Forney decided that he could not harmonize with Buchanan 
and his friends, and that he would renew his journalistic ca- 
reer on independent lines. The result was the establishment 
of the Philadelphia Press. 

150 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

The slavery issue speedily divided Douglas and Buchanan, 
and Forney had his opportunity. He had suffered much 
from the proscriptive hatred of the South, and he became 
Douglas's ablest and most enthusiastic supporter in the 
North, which brought him into direct antagonism with 
Buchanan. From the time that battle began, Forney and 
Buchanan were strangers during the remainder of their lives, 
and no one man did more to educate the North up to the elec- 
tion of Abraham Lincoln than John W. Forney. 

We are told that the political methods of the present age 
are greatly degenerate as compared with the political meth- 
ods of the old-school leaders, of which Buchanan was about 
the last representative in the White House. It will surprise 
many of the present day to be told that Buchanan gave per- 
sonal attention not only to organize county leaders in his sup- 
port for the Presidency, but wrote elaborate letters even to 
township leaders. I have in my possession a number of Mr. 
Buchanan's post-Presidential letters, and I think it due to the 
truth of history to give one of them as a foot-note to illus- 
trate the politics of half a century ago.* Perry County, to 

^Private and Confidential. 

Wheatland, near Lancaster, 12 Dec, 1851. 

My dear Sir: A friend from Cumberland County, who has re- 
cently been in Perry, expresses much doubt about your county and 
says that unless strong efforts shall be made, it will go for Cass. I 
understand you elect by county meeting ; and this mode is not a fair 
method of ascertaining public opinion throughout a large county. 
What can be done? My enemies perceiving that my prospects are 
daily becoming brighter and brighter throughout the Union are now 
intent upon producing such an appearance of division at home as 
they imagine may deter other States from voting for my nomination. 
In this point of view it is important I should carry Perry, if this can 
be done by fair and honorable means. Cass, their apparent but not 
their real candidate, can now make no show ; but they will go for 
any candidate against myself. Pennsylvania has now for the first 
time in her history an opportunity of furnishing the candidate, 
should she think proper to exert her power with a reasonable degree 
of unanimity. I intend to write to my friends Black and Steward; 
but my main reliance is on yourself. General Fetter and Judge 
Junkin were formerly my warm friends — whether they are so now 
or not I do not know. Are A. B. Anderson and young Mclntire 
my friends? I think you once told me they were. I am informed 
that young Miller is my bitter foe. 

Could you make a trip over the county and ascertain the state of 
public opinion? I should esteem it a very great favor if you would; 
and in that event, I should insist that you shall not ?oend your own 

151 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

which the letter refers, is a small county adjoining Franklin, 
the birthplace of Buchanan. It had only a single delegate 
to the Democratic State Convention, and, considering Bu- 
chanan's location, he should have been able to command its 
support without special effort. The friend to whom he wrote 
was an Associate Judge of the county and active in politics, 
and when it is remembered that this letter is only one of very_ 
many written to a single small county to gain a single del- 
egate for Buchanan against General Cass, who lived in a dis- 
tant State, the political methods employed to reach the Presi- 
dency in that day will be generally accepted as no improve- 
ment on the methods now employed to gain the highest hon- 
ors of the Republic. 

Buchanan entered the Presidency earnestly determined to 
end the slavery agitation, but unfortunately he hoped to end 
it by the unqualified success of slavery in all of the new Ter- 
ritories and the right of transit through the free States of 
slaves as servants. The Dred Scott decision was foreshad- 
owed in his inaugural address, and he and the pro-slaVery 
statesmen of that time were confident that the Republican 
ebullition of 1856 was a mere tidal wave that would speedily 
perish, and that the South would be so strongly entrenched 
for the defence of slavery that it could not be successfully as- 
sailed. He was elected by the South ; he was the strictest of 
strict constructionists on all Constitutional questions, and he 
naturally sustained the South in going far beyond what his 

money in supporting me. This would be both unreasonable and un- 
just. If you could pass a few days in this manner, you would confer 
a favor upon me which I trust I may some day be able to repay. 
But you must not go at all unless at my expense. Your services 
will place me under obligations which I shall never forget without 
expending your own money for my benefit. 

If you should ascertain that the county is against me and cannot 
be carried, as the Perry Democrat indicates, then it would be use- 
less to make the effort. If it can be carried, then we must go to 
work and have the proper concert of action to bring my friends to 
the county meeting. 

Will you let me hear from you soon on this subject, and believe me 
ever to be sincerely and gratefully your friend. 

James Buchanan. 

Hon. George Blattenberger. 

P.S. — Jos. Bailey, who is a strange, capricious man, is now against 
me, though in 1843 he was one of my warmest friends and sup- 
porters, as you will perceive by the address which I send you. What 
have I done since? 

152 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

judgment approved in the efforts to force slavery into Kan- 
sas and Nebraska. 

The strength of the slavery sentiment steadily grew under 
the aggravations of the pro-slavery men who sought to force 
slavery into the new Territories of the West, and it was this 
continued discussion and the outrages perpetrated on the 
people of Kansas and Nebraska that made the election of a 
Republican President possible in i860, and that finally pre- 
cipitated the Civil War. Buchanan adhered to the South 
until open rebellion was organized by the capture of forts 
and arsenals and the organization of a Confederate govern- 
ment, but when he found himself powerless to restrain the 
South from armed rebellion, he reorganized his Cabinet and 
exhausted his then wasted powers to bring the South into 
submission to the Government. He had an aggressively 
loyal Cabinet during the last few months of his administra- 
tion, and when he retired, generally denounced by the loyal 
sentiment of the country as a faithless Executive, he ear- 
nestly supported the Government in every measure necessary 
to suppress the rebellion and prevent the dismemberment of 
the Republic. He died soon after the close of the war, a thor- 
oughly honest and patriotic public servant, but widely mis- 
understood. His revolutionary Kansas-Nebraska policy 
made the Republican revolution of i860 inevitable, and made 
Abraham Lincoln President. 



THE LINCOLN-BRECKENRIDGE- 
DOUGLAS-BELL CONTEST 

i860 

In i860 the nation proclaimed the third great political 
epoch of its history by an aggressive departure from Democ- 
racy to the Republicanism that has since ruled without 
material interruption. There have been two Democratic 
administrations since the Republican epoch of i860, but 
though they, for the time, halted and modified the Republican 
policy, they never had the power to make a decisive reversal 
of Republican mastery. Thus an epoch of twelve years of 
Federalism, another of sixty years of Democracy, and an- 
other of forty years of Republicanism tell the story of the 
political revolutions of the Republic during a period of one 
hundred and twelve years. 

When Fremont made his brilliant campaign of 1856 and 
narrowly escaped election to the Presidency, it was generally 
accepted by all the varied phases of politics opposed to radi- 
cal Republicanism that the Republican movement was like a 
bee — biggest at its birth — and that it never could win a 
national victory ; but all the chief events affecting the polit- 
ical sentiment of the country from 1856 until i860 tended to 
strengthen Republican sentiment and to alienate a large por- 
tion of the intelligent elements of Democracy. The signifi- 
cant elections of 1858 and 1859, with the Kansas-Nebraska 
war convulsing the country from centre to circumference, 
steadily strengthened Republican lines, and when the leaders 
of the party came to face the great battle of i860 they well 
understood that success was within their reach, and never 
did a party exhibit greater sagacity in leadership than was 
displayed in the convention that nominated Lincoln. 

William H. Seward was the confessed Republican leader 
of the nation. He was admittedly its ablest champion and 
was among its earliest supporters. He had been long in the 
Senate, and was the peer of any in the discussion of all the 

154 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

grave questions which then agitated our national Legisla- 
ture. He was not only the ablest of his party, but he was 
one of the most exemplary and courteous of men. Two- 
thirds of all the delegates elected to that convention were 
friends of Seward and expected to vote for him, and his 
nomination would have been inevitable on the 1st ballot 
had not the convention been restrained by considerations of 
expediency which were most reluctantly accepted. Lincoln's 
own delegation from Illinois embraced one-third of positive 
Seward men. They were instructed for Lincoln without 
hope of his nomination at the time, and most of them ex- 
pected to perform a mere perfunctory duty by voting for him 
on one or more ballots. 

Horace Greeley had sounded the first note of warning 
against the nomination of Seward, and his paper, the New 
York Tribune, was then the most influential journal ever 
published in this country. It was the Republican Bible, and 
its weekly edition was more read in the West than all other 
Eastern papers combined. He startled the party by a series 
of dignified and masterly articles in favor of Edward Bates, 
of Missouri, for President, on the ground that Seward was 
not available, and that a man of the great ability and conser- 
vative attitude of Bates alone could win in that contest. But 
though the conservative element of the opposition to the 
Democracy was not enthusiastic for Seward and his " irre- 
pressible conflict," the true reason of Seward's defeat was 
not presented either by Mr. Greeley or by any public discus- 
sion before the meeting of the convention. 

I have read many romances about how, why and by whom 
Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President at Chicago, 
but the explanation is very simple, and when presented must 
be accepted by all as conclusive. Henry S. Lane had been 
nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor of In- 
diana, and Andrew G. Curtin had been nominated by the Re- 
publicans for Governor of Pennsylvania. These States 
voted for Governor and other State officers on the second 
Tuesday of October, and they were the pivotal States of 
the national contest. It was an absolute necessity to carry 
them in October to assure the election of a Republican Presi- 
dent, and the first inquiry of the Republican leaders at Chi- 
cago, outside of those who were blindly devoted to Seward, 
was " Who can carry Indiana and Pennsylvania ? " 

Lane and Curtin were there solely for the purpose of get- 

155 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

ting" the strongest possible national ticket nominated to aid 
them in their State contests. With Lane was John D. De- 
frees, as Chairman of the Republican State Committee of 
Indiana, and I was with Curtin, as he had charged me with 
the same responsible duty in Pennsylvania. Curtin and Lane 
decided that they could not be elected if Seward were nom- 
inated for President. They were not personally or politically 
hostile to him ; they had but one thing in view, and that was 
their own election, which was essential to elect a Republican 
President. 

Prior to i860 the Republican party had never carried either 
Pennsylvania or Indiana. Opposition to the pro-slavery 
policy of the Buchanan administration had crystallized anti- 
slavery Democrats, Whigs, and Americans into the support 
of Union State tickets, and had elected them ; but in Penn- 
sylvania the Republican name was omitted from necessity, 
and the organization was entitled the People's party. In 
both of these States there was an organized and powerful 
American party yet in existence, without which the Repub- 
licans could not succeed. It was the remnant of the Ameri- 
can or Know-Nothing revolution of 1854, and they cherished 
their own faith with great fidelity and would not support any 
candidate who was friendly to the Catholics. 

When Seward was elected Governor of New York in 1838 
it was largely by the influence of Archbishop Hughes, one of 
the ablest Catholic prelates this country has ever had; and 
Seward, not only because of his gratitude to his Catholic 
friends, but because of his broad and liberal views generally, 
in a message to the Legislature urged a division of the school 
fund between the Catholics and Protestants. ^That was the 
rock on which Seward was wrecked. Had he been nom- 
inated, the entire American element of the opposition would 
have been aggressively against him, and Pennsylvania and 
Indiana would have been lost not only by the defeat of Cur- 
tin and Lane in October, but by the defeat of Seward in No- 
vember. 

The situation was earnestly presented by Curtin and Lane, 
and Mr. Defrees and I accompanied them in their confer- 
ences with various delegations which were devoted to 
Seward, but were willing to abandon him — not because they 
loved Seward less, but because they loved Republican success 
more. I saw several rural delegates from New England 
States shed tears as they confessed that they must abandon 

156 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Seward because he could not carry Pennsylvania and In- 
diana, and certainly more than one-third of all the delegates 
who voted for Lincoln in that convention did it in sincerest 
sorrow because compelled to abandon their great leader for 
the sake of victory. 

Under such conditions the Seward lines were steadily 
weakening, but never was a movement so ably led as was the 
Seward movement at Chicago. It was literally a battle of 
giants. Thurlow Weed, the master of masters in politics, led 
the fight for Seward, and he had around him Governor Mor- 
gan, Chairman of the National Commitee ; Raymond, of the 
Times, and many others of distinguished ability in such 
struggles. Weed invited Lane to drive with him, and, in the 
course of their conversation, assured him that if his delega- 
tion would support Seward all the money needed to carry his 
election in Indiana would be generously furnished ; but 
Lane knew that no amount of money could give him victory 
in October with Seward as the national candidate. 

The convention met on Wednesday, May 16, and George 
Ashman, of Massachusetts, was made permanent president. 
The first day was devoted to routine duties, and the second to 
the adoption of a platform and rules to govern the conven- 
tion. The convention adjourned on Thursday evening pro- 
foundly impressed with the great battle that was to be fought 
on the following day, and both sides exhausted political 
strategy to gain the advantage. Weed organized a most im- 
posing street parade of the Seward people. They had thou- 
sands of Seward spectators outside of the delegates, and it 
was one of the most impressive public displays I have ever 
witnessed. They paraded the streets for an hour or more 
before the meeting of the convention. 

The friends of Lincoln had been tireless in their efforts, 
and they displayed wonderful ability in handling their forces. 
The leaders in immediate charge of the Lincoln people were 
Colonel Medill, of the Chicago Tribune; David Davis, after- 
ward Judge of the Supreme Court ; Norman B. Judd, Chair- 
man of the Republican State Committee, and Leonard Swett, 
who was almost a copy of Lincoln physically, and who was 
Lincoln's closest friend until the day of his death. When 
they found that the Seward parade was to come off, they 
counselled how to meet it, and they finally decided that while 
the Seward men were parading they would fill the immense 
temporary wigwam — erected for the convention, and capable 

157 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

of holding five thousand spectators — with men who should 
go there solely for the purpose of hurrahing for Lincoln. 
They carried this plan into very successful operation, and 
when the Seward procession attempted to march into the con- 
vention hall they found it filled to overflowing, and very few 
Seward men outside the delegation could obtain admission. 

Just before the convention opened I saw the New York 
delegation file in and fill the only vacant place in the immense 
building. They were appalled when they saw how they had 
been outgeneralled. Almost immediately behind the New 
York men, who were under the lead of Evarts as Chairman 
of the delegation, sat Horace Greeley at the head of the 
Oregon delegation. That new State, just admitted into the 
Union, was so far from civilization, as the iron horse had 
not yet been heard in either the Rockies or the Sierra Ne- 
vadas, that the Republican convention selected a number of 
prominent men in the East, including Greeley, to represent 
the State. I never saw a more benignant face than that of 
Greeley's when the nomination of Lincoln was declared. ' It 
was known by the supporters of Seward that Pennsylvania 
and Indiana had both decided to support Lincoln, the Penn- 
sylvanians having declared for Lincoln by four majority over 
Bates, after giving a complimentary ballot to Cameron. 

With very little preliminary movement the ballot began, 
and Seward's two-thirds vote of the convention dwindled 
down to 1 73 \ when 234 were necessary to a choice. Lincoln, 
with Pennsylvania and Ohio giving complimentary ballots 
to Cameron and Chase, had 102 votes. As the ballots were 
announced, every vote for Lincoln was cheered to the echo, 
while there were but few cheers for Seward except from the 
delegates themselves. When the 2d ballot was called 
the Seward people felt that they must largely increase their 
strength or fall in the race. As Lincoln gained most of the 
vote of Pennsylvania, with important gains from other 
States, the wildest cheering greeted the announcements, and 
when the ballot was given with only 10 votes gained by 
Seward and 75 votes gained by Lincoln, it became evident to 
all that Seward's strength was exhausted and that Lincoln 
was the coming man. The next and last ballot soon showed 
Lincoln as leading Seward, and from that time on it was diffi- 
cult to announce the votes of the States because of the 
frenzied cheers for " Abe Lincoln." 

When the last State was called it was known that Lincoln 

158 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

was either nominated or very close to it. The vote as re- 
corded was 23 1 J for Lincoln, being 2 J votes short of a ma- 
jority, and 180 for Seward, with some 50 scattering. Be- 
fore the result was announced Chairman Carter, of Ohio, 
got up on his chair to assure the attention of the President, 

and said: - 

" I rise to announce the change of four votes from Ohio 
from Mr. Chase to Abraham Lincoln." 

It was known then that this gave Lincoln the majority, and 
I have never before nor since witnessed such a scene as was 
made by the great mass of the Lincoln people who were in 
the hall. A large charcoal picture of Lincoln was presented 
in the gallery at the rear of the hall, and the whole vast audi- 
ence, with few exceptions outside of the New York delega- 
tion, rose to indulge in the wildest enthusiasm for some 
minutes. 

When order was finally restored, Maine, Massachusetts, 
and Missouri changed a number of votes to Lincoln, giving 
him a total of 354, being 120 odd votes more than he needed. 
When the vote was announced by the President cheers broke 
out afresh, but they soon quieted down to await the action of 
the New York delegation that was expected to move the 
unanimous nomination. There was certainly fully five min- 
utes of dead silence in the body, as the New York delegates 
were mortified beyond expression at their discomfiture ; but 
after a long wait that seemed to be vastly longer than it was, 
the tall form of William M. Evarts arose, and with re- 
luctance that was unconcealed said : 

" Mr. President, I move that the nomination of Abraham 
Lincoln be made unanimous." 

Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, rose as soon as he 
saw Evarts rise, and when Evarts's motion was made An- 
drew seconded it, and with the unanimous vote of the con- 
vention and the heartiest huzzas from the many thousands 
who witnessed the proceedings, Abraham Lincoln was de- 
clared the Republican candidate for President. The conven- 
tion adjourned to meet again in the evening to nominate a 
candidate for Vice-Presiderit. 

As there will be general interest felt in the proceedings of 
the Republican National Convention that gave the country 
the first Republican President in Abraham Lincoln, I give 
the detailed vote of each State represented in the conven- 
tion on the three ballots for President, as follows : 

159 



OUR PRESIDENTS 













1st Ballot. 










STATES. 


■d 
o 


o 


o 


c 
c 
u 
a 

d 
O 


£ 

- 
pq 


c 
d 
o 

o 


d 


d 

33 

.S3 
O 


o 

"£. 

d 

Q 


3 

s 

g 

3 

1 
1 


-4-3 

C 
O 
g 

S 
u 
h 

l 

l 


1) 

a 
.s 
*s 


Maine 


10 
1 

21 

70 

~n 

3 

8 
5 

12 

4 
10 
2 
8 
8 

6 
2 
2 

173£ 


6 
> 

4 

2 

4 

14 
6 
8 

26 

22 
2 

1 

102 


1 
2 

3 


47* 
1 

1 

1 
50£ 


l 
7 

8 
6 

18 

2 

1 

5 

48 


5 

1 

1 

4 

1 
12 


1 
1 


1 

1 
2 

8 
34 

1 

2 

49 


14 
14 




New Hampshire 




Vermont 


10 


Massachusetts 


Rhode Island 




Connecticut 




New York 




New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 




Maryland 




Delaware 

Virginia 




Kentucky 




Ohio 




Indiana 




Missouri 

Michigan 




Illinois 




Texas 




Wisconsin 




Iowa 




California 




Minnesota 




Oregon 

Kansas 




Nebraska 




District of Columbia 




Totals 


10 









2d Ballot. 


STATES. 


•d 

s- 
d 


c* 

o 
a 

c 

3 


OB 

a 

d 



u 

s 

Gd 
U 


R 
d 
o 

- 

o 


o5 

CO 

cS 

o 


c 
c 

►. 

d 

G 


>> 
d 

'J 


Maine 


10 
1 

22 

TO 
4 

2^ 
3 


6 
9 

10 
4 
3 
4 

48 


4 

8 


1 


2 




New Hampshire 

Vermont. . . 






Massachusetts. . . 




Rhode Island 


3 • — i — 


Connecticut 


o _ 2 


New York 








New Jersey 


2^ 


— 


10 





Pennsylvania 





Maryland 









160 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 





2d Ballot. 




STATES. 


u 
ciJ 
& 

4) 

CO 


y 

13 


PQ 


c 
o 

0) 

a 

O 


(3 

o 


O 


n 
o 


O 


Delaware 


8 

7 

12 

6 
10 

2 
8 
8 

6 
3 
2 


6 
14 

9 

14 
26 

22 

5 

1 


18 
5 


1 


3 


6 
29 

2 


10 






— 


Kentucky. . 


— 


Ohio 


— 






Missouri 


— 


Michigan 














— ■ 




— 












— 








— 


Dist. of Columbia 




Totals 


my 2 
i 


181 


35 


2 


8 


42K 


2 




. 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts . . , 
Rhode Island . . . 
Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey. 
Pennsylvania . . 

Maryland 

Delaware 

Virginia 

Kentucky 

Ohio 



8d Ballot. 



10 
1 

18 
1 
1 

70 
5 

2 



4 
15 



6 
9 

10 
8 
5 
4 



52 
9 
6 

14 
13 
29 



3 



o 

+J 

>> 

a 

Q 



O 



161 



OUR PRESIDENTS 





3d Ballot. 


STATES. 


*d 
u 

OS 


»3 

o 

+1 

m 


6 

CO 

d 

O 


c' 

u 
c 

3 


c 

•J 


a 

o 

-t-> 

>> 
d 

Q 


d 
O 


Indiana 


12 

6 
10 

2 
8 
8 
1 
6 
3 
2 


18 


2 


26 
22 

4 
1 


— 


— 




Missouri 




Michigan 




Illinois 




Texas 




Wisconsin 




Iowa 




California 




Minnesota 




Oregon 




Kansas 




Nebraska 




Dist. of Columbia 




Totals 


180 


22 


24^ 


231^ 


5 


1 


1 







So keen were the disappointments of the New York dele- 
gation, and Mr. Weed, who was the Seward leader, that 
when earnestly urged to name a candidate for Vice-President, 
who would have been accepted by a nearly unanimous vote, 
they churlishly refused to do so. Governor Morgan would 
have been taken as the candidate to emphasize the desire of 
the friends of Lincoln to recognize the friends of Seward, but 
he peremptorily refused to accept it, and the convention then 
nominated Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, as a representative 
of the Democratic-Republican element ; but New York 
divided her vote between five candidates, giving a bare ma- 
jority to Hamlin from personal choice. 

As the friends of Seward declined to indicate a candidate 
for Vice-President the convention reassembled in the even- 
ing to enter a free-for-all race for the second place on the 
ticket. Hamlin commanded nearly a solid vote from New 
England that attracted others. He was known throughout 
the country as the man who had resigned the chairmanship 
of his committee in the Senate in 1856 to declare himself for 
Fremont, although an earnest Democrat up to that time, and 
that he had accepted the Republican nomination for Gov- 

162 






AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

ernor and won out by an overwhelming majority. There was 
a strong sentiment in the convention in favor of Cassius M. 
Clay, not because he was personally preferred, but because 
it was thought wise by many to desectionalize the party by 
taking a candidate for Vice-President from a Slave State. 
Hamlin had a good lead on the ist ballot, and on the 2d 
won an easy victory. The two ballots were as follows : 





1st Ballot. 


2d Ballot. 


STATES. 


O 


09 

M 

a 

ffl 


\ 

u 

0) 


c 
£ 




1 


ffl 


O 


a 
S 


tylaine 


2 
9 

h 

3 

23 
23 

18 

4 

2 

5 
1 

1 

2 


20 

1 

4 

9 

1 
1 


1 

2 

7 

24 

16 
1 


1 

2 
11 

7 
1 
1 

9 
2 

8 
1 
3 
6 
5 


16 

10 

10 

1 

8 

5 

35 

6 

11 

8 

2 

48 

8 

8 

2 

5 
6 

6 
1 


16 
10 
10 
26 

8 

10 
70 
14 
54 
10 

6 

46 , 
12 
13 
8 
20 

5 
3 

7 
7 
3 

2 

2 


1 

23 

28 

14 
5 
4 
2 
6 
5 

1 
1 

1 




New Hampshire 

Vermont 


— 


Massachusetts 




Rhode Island 




Connecticut 


9 


New York 




New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 




Maryland 




Delaware 




Virginia 




Kentucky 




Ohio 




Indiana 




Missouri 




Michigan 




Illinois 








Wisconsin 




Iowa 




California 




Minnesota 




Oregon 


2 


Kansas 


3 


Nebraska 


6 


District of Columbia.. . 




Totals 


101}4 


38^ 


51 


58 


194 


367 


86 


13 







The Chicago convention that nominated Lincoln for Pres- 
ident was not only the ablest national political body that ever 

163 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

met in the country up to that time, but it exhibited the high- 
est type of political strategy. It has never since then been 
equalled in ability and leadership, with the single exception 
of the Republican convention of 1880, in which the friends of 
Grant made their last stand to give their chieftain a third 
term. As compared with these two, all subsequent conven- 
tions were tame. 

The following platform was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Repub- 
lican electors of the United States, in convention assembled, in dis- 
charge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite 
in the following declarations : 

1. That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has 
fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and 
perpetuation of the Republican party, and that the causes which 
called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, 
more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional 
triumph. 

2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the 
Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Cpnsti- 
tution — " that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by 
their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that, to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed " — is essential to the preserva- 
tion of our republican institutions ; and that the Federal Constitu- 
tion, the rights of the States, and the union of the States, must and 
shall be preserved. 

3. That to the union of the States this nation owes its unprec- 
edented increase in population, its surprising development of ma- 
terial resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at 
home, and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes 
for disunion, come from whatever source they may; and we con- 
gratulate the country that no Republican' member of Congress has 
uttered or countenanced the threats of disunion so often made by 
Democratic members, without rebuke and with applause from their 
political associates ; and we denounce those threats of disunion, in 
case of a popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital 
principles of a free government, and as an avowal of contemplated 
treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant people sternly 
to rebuke and forever silence. 

4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and 
especially the right of each State to order and control its own do- 
mestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is 
essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and en- 
durance of our political fabric depends ; and we denounce the law- 
less invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, 
no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. 

5. That the present Democratic administration has far exceeded 
our worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the 
exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in its des- 

164 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

perate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution 
upon the protesting people of Kansas ; in construing the personal 
relation between master and servant to involve an unqualified 
property in person ; in its attempted enforcement, everywhere, on 
land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and of the Fed- 
eral courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest; 
and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power entrusted to it 
by a confiding people. 

6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extrava- 
gance which pervades every department of the Federal Government ; 
that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to 
arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored 
partisans ; while the recent startling developments of frauds and 
corruptions at the Federal metropolis show that an entire change of 
administration is imperatively demanded. 

7. That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force, 
carries slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States, 
is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit pro- 
visions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, 
and with legislative and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its 
tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country. 

8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United 
States is that of freedom; that as our republican fathers, when they 
had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that 
no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without 
due process of law, it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever 
such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Con- 
stitution against all attempts to violate it ; and we deny the authority 
of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individual, to give 
legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States. 

9. That we brand the recent reopening of the African slave-trade, 
under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of ju- 
dicial power, as a crime against humanity, and a burning shame 
to our country and age ; and we call upon Congress to take prompt 
and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that 
execrable traffic. 

10. That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal governors, of the 
acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery 
in those Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted 
Democratic principle of non-intervention and popular sovereignty, 
embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a demonstration of the 
deception and fraud involved therein. 

11. That Kansas should of right be immediately admitted as a 
State under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by her 
people and accepted by the House of Representatives. 

12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the General 
Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an 
adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the 
industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that 
policy of national exchanges which secures to the workingmen lib- 
eral wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and 
manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enter- 
prise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence. 

13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of 

165 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the 
free-homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or sup- 
pliants for public bounty; and we demand the passage by Congress 
of the complete and satisfactory homestead measure which has al- 
ready passed the House. 

14. That the Republican party is opposed to any change in our 
naturalization laws, or any State legislation by which the rights of 
citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall 
be abridged or impaired ; and in favor of giving a full and efficient 
protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or 
naturalized, both at home and abroad. 

The bitter estrangement of Douglas and President 
Buchanan made an impassable gulf between Douglas and the 
radical Southerners who stood by Buchanan. Douglas had 
a desperate contest in his State for re-election to the Senate 
in 1858, when he was opposed by Lincoln as the Republican 
candidate, and was even more vindictively opposed by all the 
power of the national administration. Lincoln won the 
State, as he carried the Republican or Union State ticket, 
but the legislative districts were so gerrymandered that 
Douglas won the Legislature and came back in triumph to 
defy the President. There was no reasonable prospect, 
therefore, of Democratic unity in the campaign of i860. 
Douglas, who was the most astute of all the Democratic pol- 
iticians of his day, clearly foresaw that the violent attitude 
of the South must result in the defeat of the slavery party 
and the early extinction of slavery ; but slavery had always 
been omnipotent since the battle began, and it would not 
learn that its mastery could be overthrown. 

The Democratic National Convention was called for the 
first time to meet far South, in the city of Charleston, the 
home of Calhoun, the cradle of nullification, and the one 
place in the Union where secession ran rampant. It was 
obviously intended to environ the convention with an army 
of the ablest Southern leadership. The convention met on 
the 23d of April, i860, and every State was fully represented, 
with double delegations from Illinois and New York. The 
few administration followers in Illinois had made a rump 
Democratic organization and sent an anti-Douglas delega- 
tion to Charleston, and in New York they had another con- 
test between the " Hards" and the " Softs," the " Hards" 
being opposed to Douglas and the " Softs" for him. Caleb 
Cushing was made permanent president, and it was decided 
that no ballot should be had for President until a platform 
was adopted. On the following day the convention did not 

166 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

get beyond the settlement of contested seats, admitting the 
" Softs" of New York and the Douglas men from Illinois, 
and the debates on even the most trivial disputes were un- 
usually bitter. On the third dav threats of bolting became 
common among the Southern delegates, as the admission 
of the Douglas delegates from New York and Illinois clearly 
indicated that the Douglas people controlled the convention. 
On the fourth day majority and minority reports were made 
on the platform, the majority by Mr. Avery, of North Caro- 
lina, and the minority by Mr. Payne, of Ohio. General Ben- 
jamin F. Butler, who was a prominent delegate in the con- 
vention, as he would be anywhere, and who voted for Jef- 
ferson Davis for the Presidency right along, presented a 
minority report of his own, and Senator Bayard, of Dela- 
ware, followed with a platform of his invention. On the 
fifth day Senator Bigler, of Pennsylvania, moved to recom- 
mit the platforms to the committee with instructions to re- 
port in an hour, and the motion to recommit was carried, 152 
to 151, while the motion to instruct was lost by a very large 
vote. On the same day Mr. Avery, from the majority of the 
committee on platform, reported a new declaration of prin- 
ciples, and an elaborate discussion followed, and Mr. Sam- 
uels, of Iowa, presented a new minority report. 

After a protracted and ill-tempered debate, it was finally 
decided that the vote on the platform should be taken on 
Monday, the 30th, and on that day the convention proceeded 
to vote without debate. Butler's platform was rejected by 
198 to 105. Next the minority report of Mr. Samuels, being 
the Douglas platform, was carried by 165 to 138. The report 
of the committee as amended was then adopted without a 
vote by States, upon which the Alabama delegation pre- 
sented a written protest announcing the purpose of the del- 
egates to withdraw from the convention. The Mississippi, 
Florida, and Texas delegations gave like notice, and the 
Louisiana delegation excepting two, the South Carolina 
delegation excepting three, with three of the Arkansas dele- 
gation, two of the Delaware delegation, including Senator 
Bayard, and one from North Carolina then withdrew from 
the convention. There were great pomp and ceremony in 
this proceeding, as formal protests and elaborate speeches 
were made by the retiring delegates. The convention was 
thus largely depleted, but a resolution, declaring that two- 
thirds of a full convention, being 202 votes, shall be neces- 

167 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



sary to make nominations, was adopted by 141 to 112. The 
convention then proceeded to ballot for President with the 
following result: 



1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 

6. 

7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 
36. 
37. 
38. 
39. 
40. 
41. 
42. 
43. 
44. 
45. 
46. 
47. 
48. 
49. 
50. 
51. 
52. 
53. 
54. 
45. 
56. 
57. 



BALLOTS. 



O 

Q 



145^ 

147 

148^ 

149 

149^ 

149^ 

150y 2 

150^ 

150^ 

150^ 

150^ 

150^ 

149^ 

150 

150 

150 

150 

150 

150 

150 

150^ 

150^ 

152^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

152^ 

152^ 

152^ 

152 

151^ 

151^ 

151^1 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 

151 V* 

151^ 

151^ 

151^ 



35 

36J^ 

42 

37^ 

37^ 

39^ 

38^ 

38^ 

41 

39^ 

39^ 

39^ 

39^ 

41 

41^ 

42 

42 

41^ 

42 

4!^ 
41^ 
41^ 

41 y> 

41^ 

41^ 

42^ 

42 

42 

45 

47^ 

47^ 

47^ 

47^| 

47^ 

48 

64^ 

66 

66^ 



66^ 
66^ 
65Y 2 

<m 

65^ 
65^ 
65^ 
65^ 
65^ 
65^ 
65^ 
65^ 
65^ 
61 

fay* 

65^ 
65^ 



42 


7 


41^ 


6V6 


36 


6^ 


4m, 


5 


41 


5 


41 


3 


41 


4 


40^, 


4^ 


39^ 


1 


39 


4 


38 


4 


38 


4 


28^ 


1 


27 


M 


26^ 


v% 


26 


y» 


26 


y* 


26 


1 


26 


1 


26 


y* 


26 


y>, 


26 




25 


y* 


25 


m, 


25 


m 


25 


12 


25 


12 


25 


12V« 


25 


13 


25 


13 


32V4 


3 


22^ 


3 


22y , 


3 


wy 9i 


5 


22 


4^-, 


22 


4^ 


16 


m, 


16 


W9, 


16 


5^, 


16 


5V6 


16 


5^ 


16 


5 


16 


5 


16 


5 


16 


5 


16 


5 


16 


5 


16 


5 


16 


4 


16 


4 


16 


4 


16 


4 


16 


4 


20^ 


2 


16 


4 


16 


4 


16 


4 



M 



6 

7 

6 

6 

6 

5^ 

6^ 

6 
20 
20^ 
20^ 
20^ 
20^ 
20U 
20i| 
20^ 
20^ 
20^ 
19^ 
19^ 

19^ 
9 



5^ 

5^ 

5^ 

14^ 

8* 

13 

12^ 

13 

12^ 

12^ 

12^ 

13 

13 

13 

13 

13 

13 

13 

14 

14 

14 

14 

14 

16 

14 

14 

14 



y* 



2H 
2^ 



168 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

* Douglas had a large plurality of the votes, but could not 
obtain even a two-thirds vote of the remaining delegates. 
After the 57th ballot a motion was made to adjourn the con- 
vention to reassemble at Baltimore on the 18th of June. That 
was adopted by 195 to 55, whereupon President Cushing ad- 
journed the convention to reconvene in Baltimore. The re- 
tiring delegates met at St. Andrew's Hall, in Charleston, 
elected Senator Bayard, of Delaware, president, and after 
much discussion adopted a platform of its own. After 
spending four days wholly devoted to discussion, that body 
adjourned to reconvene in Richmond on the second Monday 
in June. This convention reconvened in Richmond on the 
nth of June, with delegates from Alabama, Texas, Louisi- 
ana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Tennes- 
see, and Virginia. John Erwin, of Alabama, was made 
President, when it adjourned to meet again in Richmond 
on the 2 1st of June, and reassembled on that day and awaited 
the action of the Democratic seceders of the Baltimore con- 
vention, who nominated Breckenridge and Lane, when it 
accepted the candidates of the seceders and their platform, 
and adjourned sine die. 

The regular Democratic National Convention reassembled 
in Baltimore on the 18th of June, and the first three days 
were devoted to a wrangling discussion on rules, platforms, 
rights of delegates, etc. The first disturbing questions the 
convention had to meet were the admission of delegates and 
the right of partial delegations representing States to cast 
the full vote of the State. The decision of the convention 
started another small tidal wave of secession and Virginia re- 
tired. North Carolina followed, then Tennessee, and a por- 
tion of Maryland. Later California and Delaware withdrew 
with a part of Kentucky, and President Cushing became so 
disgusted that he resigned his position and bolted himself. 
The convention finally proceeded to ballot for President, and 
two ballots were had, with the following result : 



OUR PRESIDENTS 





1st Ballot. 


2D 


Ballot. 


STATES. 


u5 

"So 

o 

Q 


6 

12 

'u 
C 

M 
o 

u 

ffl 


0> 

O 


to 

ci 

So 
o 


0) 

!H • 
c 

O 

0) 

1-1 

ffl 


0) 

'u 

O - 


Maine 


5M 
5 

5 
10 

4 

%% 
35 

10 

^A 
IK 

9 

6 

b 

23 
13 
11 

6 

5 

4 

2K 


1 
3 

~K 
K 


3 

IK 
*K 

1 


7 
5 
5 
10 
4 

BK 
35 

2y 2 

10 

3 
1 
9 
6 

1^ 

J* 

3 
23 
13 
11 

6 

5 

4 

4 


H 

7 




New Hampshire 




Vermont 




Massachusetts 




Rhode Island 




Connecticut 




New York 




New Terse v 




Pennsylvania 


2K 


Maryland 


Virginia 




North Carolina 




Alabama 


/• 


Louisiana 




Arkansas 





Missouri 


IK 


Tennessee 


Kentucky 


*K 


Ohio 


Indiana 




Illinois 




Michigan 




Wisconsin ; 


_ 


Iowa 




Minnesota 










173^ 


5 


10 


181^ 


?K 


5K 



As Douglas had received nearly the unanimous vote of the 
remaining delegates, it was finally resolved that as he had 
two-thirds of all the votes given in the convention, he was 
the nominee of the party for President. Benjamin Fitzpat- 
rick, Senator from Alabama, was nominated for Vice-Presi- 
dent, receiving 198J votes to 1 for William C. Alexander, of 
New Jersey. Senator Fitzpatrick declined the nomination 
when notified of it, and the National Committee supplied the 
vacancy by the nomination of Herschel V. Johnson, of 
Georgia. The platform adopted by this convention was as 
follows : 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

I. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union, in conven- 
tion assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the resolutions 
unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of principles by 
the Democratic convention at Cincinnati in the year 1856, believing 
that Democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature when ap- 
plied to the same subject-matters; and we recommend as the only 
further resolutions the following: 

Inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party 
as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial legisla- 
ture, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Con- 
stitution of the United States, over the institution of slavery within 
the Territories — 

2. Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the decisions 
of the Supreme Court of the United States on the questions of con- 
stitutional law. 

3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to afford 
ample and complete protection to all its citizens, whether at home 
or abroad, and whether native or foreign. 

4. Resolved, That one of the necessities of the age, in a military, 
commercial, and postal point of view, is speedy communication be- 
tween the Atlantic and Pacific States; and the Democratic party 
pledge such constitutional government aid as will insure the con- 
struction of a railroad to the Pacific Coast at the earliest practicable 
period. 

5. Resolved, That the Democratic party are in favor of the 
acquisition of the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honor- 
able to ourselves and just to Spain. 

6. Resolved, That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat 
the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave law are hostile in char- 
acter, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their 
effects. 

7. Resolved, That it is in accordance with the interpretation of the 
Cincinnati platform, that, during the existence of the Territorial 
governments, the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, im- 
posed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial 
Legislature over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same 
has been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme 
Court of the United States, should be respected by all good citizens, 
and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the 
General Government. 



The seceders from the Baltimore convention, who were 
really representing the seceders from the Charleston con- 
vention then in session at Richmond, immediately organized 
a new convention in the Front Street Theatre, of Baltimore, 
with 21 States fully or partially represented. Caleb Cushing 
was made chairman, and after adopting the two-thirds rule, 
a ballot was had for President, all of the votes being cast for 
J. C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, by the following States : 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



Vermont % 

Massachusetts 8 

New York 2 

Pennsylvania 4 

Maryland 4J£ 

Virginia 11^| 

North Carolina 8j| 

Georgia 10 

Florida 3 

Alabama 9 



Louisiana 6 

Mississippi 7 

Texas 4 

Arkansas 4 

Missouri 1 

Tennessee 9^ 

Kentucky 4)| 

Minnesota 1 

California 4 

Oregon 3 



Breckenridge, having received the unanimous vote of the 
convention, was declared the candidate with great enthusi- 
asm, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, received a like unanimous 
vote for Vice-President on the 1st ballot. The convention 
then adopted the following platform, being the same that 
had been reported to the Charleston convention by the ma- 
jority of the platform committee : 

Resolved, That the platform adopted by the Democratic party 
at Cincinnati be affirmed, with the following explanatory resolu- 
tions : 

i. That the government of a Territory organized by an act of 
Congress is provisional and temporary ; and during its existence 
all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with 
their property in the Territory, without their rights either of person 
or of property being destroyed or impaired by Congressional legis- 
lation. 

2. That it is the duty of the Federal Government, in all its de- 
partments, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and 
property in the Territories, and wherever else its constitutional 
authority extends. 

3. That when the settlers in a Territory, having an adequate 
population, form a State constitution, the right of sovereignty com- 
mences, and, being consummated by admission into the Union, 
they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States ; and 
the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the Federal 
Union, whether its constitution prohibits or recognizes the institu- 
tion of slavery. 

4. That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of 
the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves 
and just to Spain, at the earliest practicable moment. 

5. That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faith- 
ful execution of the Fugitive Slave law are hostile in character, sub- 
versive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect. 

6. That the Democracy of the United States recognize it as the 
imperative duty of this Government to protect the naturalized citizen 
in all his rights, whether at home or in foreign lands, to the same 
extent as its native-born citizens. 

Whereas, One of the greatest necessities of the age, in a political, 
commercial, postal, and military point of view, is a speedy com- 
munication between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts — 






172 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Therefore be it Resolved, That the Democratic party do hereby 
pledge themselves to use every means in their power to secure the 
passage of some bill, to the extent of the constitutional authority 
of Congress, for the construction of a Pacific railroad from the 
Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, at the earliest practicable 
moment. 

A convention of delegates, representing the Constitutional 
Union party, met at Baltimore on the 9th of May and nom- 
inated John Bell, of Tennessee, for President, and Edward 
Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President. Two ballots 
were had, as follows : 



John Bell 

Samuel Houston.. . . 

John M. Botts 

John McLean 

J. J. Crittendon 

Edward Everett . . . 
William Goggin . . . 
William A. Graham 
William L. Sharkey 
William C. Rieves. . 



1st Ballot. 


2d Ballot. 


68^ 

57 


138 
69 


21 


7 
1 


28 


1 


25 
3 

22 


9^ 


18 • 


7 
13 


8M 



Mr. Bell was declared the unanimous choice of the con- 
vention, and Mr. Everett was unanimously nominated with- 
out the formality of a ballot. The following platform was 
adopted by this convention : 

Whereas, Experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted 
by the partisan conventions of the country have had the effect to 
mislead and deceive the people, and at the same time to widen the 
political divisions of the country by the creation and encouragement 
of geographical and sectional parties, therefore — 

Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of duty to 
recognize no political principle other than the Constitution of the 
country, the union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws, 
and that, as representatives of the constitutional Union men of the 
country in national convention assembled, we hereby pledge our- 
selves to maintain, protect, and defend, separately and unitedly, 
these great principles of public liberty and national safety, against 
all enemies at home and abroad, believing that thereby peace may 
once more be restored to the country, the rights of the people and 
of the States re-established, and the Government again placed in 
that condition of justice, fraternity, and equality which, under the 

173 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

example and Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every 
citizen of the United States to maintain a more perfect union, 
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the com- 
mon defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. 

It will be noticed that the American party had entirely dis- 
appeared as a political factor in i860, and what was called 
the Constitutional Union party had its origin from a num- 
ber of old and conservative Americans who could not follow 
either of the old parties. The movement originated chiefly 
with the friends of General Houston, of Texas, who had 
separated from the Democratic party and was elected Gov- 
ernor of his State after he identified himself with the Ameri- 
can organization. It was expected by those who did the pre- 
liminary work of organizing the Constitutional Union party 
that Houston would be made the candidate for President, 
and it will be seen that on the 1st ballot he was within 9 
votes of Bell. The movement gained unexpected strength 
through the North, and when the delegates assembled at Bal- 
timore a majority of them regarded it as a necessity to nom- 
inate two of the ablest, cleanest, and most conservative men 
of the country, and John Bell was taken because it was 
known that he could command a much larger vote from the 
old Whigs and Americans of the South, where the Republi- 
cans could have no votes, than any other candidate. The 
American party never reappeared in the political arena after 
1856, when it succeeded in carrying the electoral vote of 
Maryland for Fillmore. 

The contest was one of great activity, with much more. bit- 
terness exhibited by the Democratic factions toward each 
other than either displayed toward the Republicans. 
Douglas took the stump and spoke as far South as New 
Orleans, throughout the West, in various places in New 
York and other Eastern States. His speeches were the ablest 
and most aggressive ever delivered in a national contest. 
Lincoln, Breckenridge, and Bell took no prominent individual 
part in the battle. One of the peculiar features of the cam- 
paign of i860 was the development of a war spirit in the 
North that was quickened by the organization known as 
" The Wide-A wakes." They were Republican organizations 
uniformed by caps and capes, and each one carrying a lantern 
in night processions. Many of them drilled as military com- 
panies, for the threat of war came up with almost every echo 

174 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

from the South. The young men of the North, and espe- 
cially the young men just from our colleges, entered largely 
and very enthusiastically into the Lincoln ranks, and in no 
previous Presidential battle was there such able and general 
discussion of public questions on the hustings. The slavery 
question had presented a new phase to the people of the 
North. It was not a mere battle against slavery, although 
that appealed very strongly to the convictions of most of the 
Republicans, but the South had, by the deliverances of its 
leading men, made the issue directly against the mastery of 
the free labor of the North. It was denounced by some of the 
ablest Southern leaders as unworthy of respect or recogni- 
tion, holding that labor was menial, and that the North was 
made up very largely of " small-fisted farmers" and " greasy 
mechanics," and Senator Chestnut, of South Carolina, who 
delivered the most honest and one of the ablest speeches on 
the labor question, compared the slave labor of the South 
most favorably with the " mud-sills of the North." This at- 
titude of the South logically brought the most intelligent 
labor classes of all conditions into the support of the Repub- 
lican ticket to vindicate their own manhood and indepen- 
dence. The following table presents the popular and electoral 
vote: 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . 
Rhode Island . . . 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania. . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 



62,811 

37,519 

33,803 

106,533 

12,244 

43,792 

362,646 

58,324 

268,030 

3,815 

2,294 

1,929 



Popular Vote. 



e4 

bo 

o 
Q 



a 

ID 

m 



26,693 
25,881 

6,849 
34,372 

7,707t 

15,522 

312,510t 

62,801t 

16,765 

1,023 

5,966 
16,290 



bo 



CQ 



:m 



6,368 

2,112 

218 

5,939 

14,641 



178,8711 

7,337 

42,482 

74,323 



2,046 

441 

1,969 

22,331 

3,291 



12,776 

3,864 

41,760 

74,681 



Electoral Vote 



5 
5 

13 
4 
6 

35 
4 

27 



15 



i75 



OUR PRESIDENTS 





Popular Vote. 


Electoral Vote 


STATES. 


c 

o 

o 

c 

p 

A 

ai 
u 
& 

< 


en 

«S 

"3 

O 

a 

a 

o 

Q 

O 


of 

be 

3 
"C 
c 
o 

o 

d 

c 

O 

>— i 


c 

c 

"3 

c 

O 


o 
o 

c 

3 


OS 

"Si 
s 
o 
Q 

9 


D 

w 
2 

o 
<a 

h 

CO' 

10 
8 

10 
3 
9 
7 
6 
4 
4 


13 

en 






2,701 


48,539 


44,990 


23 
6 
13 
11 
5 
4 
4 
4 
3 














11,590 
367 

13,651 
3,283 
7,625 


51,889 

8,543 
48,831 
40,797 
22,861 
47,548 
28,732 
31,317 
64,709 
53,143 
11.405 
805 
12,295 

2,404 
888 
748 

1,048 
34.334 

5,006 


42,886 

5,437 

27,875 

25,040 

20,204 

15.438t 

20,094 

58,372 

69,274 

66,058 

12,194 

405 

5,306 

4,913 

161 

62 

1,763 

6,817 

183 




Florida 






Alabama 






Mississippi. .... 






Louisiana 






Texas 







Arkansas 


5,227 

58,801 

11,350 

25,651 

187,232 

65,057 

115,509 

160.215 

65,021 

11,920 

55,111 

38,516 

3,951 




Missouri 


17,028 




Tennessee 


19 


Kentucky 


1,364 

231,610 

88,480 

139,033 

172,161 

86,110 

22,069 

70,409 

39,173 

5,270 


19 


Ohio 








Indiana 




Illinois 




Wisconsin 




Minnesota 








California 




Oregon 








Totals 


1,866,452 


1,375,157 


847,953 


590,631 


180 


12 


72 


39 










* Chosen by Legislature. 



t Fusion electoral tickets. 



The election of Lincoln was the second great political revo- 
lution in the history of the country, and it came with fear- 
ful import. The revolution won by Jefferson in 1800 simply 
displaced the Federalists, gave authority to the Republicans, 
and liberalized the policy of the Government. The revolu- 
tion that brought Lincoln into the Presidency was the first 
popular expression emphasizing the purpose of the nation to 
halt the extension of slavery ; and while the Republican pol- 
icy meant no more than to prevent slavery extension, it was 
well understood in the South that it menaced the safety of 
slavery even where it was then undisputed. The Southern- 
ers had little tolerance for Republicanism. They had seen 
it grow from the despised Abolition cranks to the Republican 
party that had dominated Congress before it elected a Presi- 
dent. Republicans in Congress were seldom treated with 
respect by their Southern associates, and often the most wan- 

176 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

ton and flagrant insults were given them not only on the 
floor of the House but on other occasions. 

Personal encounters disgraced the record of both House 
and Senate, and the most respectable term the South ever 
applied to antislavery members was that of " Black Repub- 
lican." Even in Philadelphia, that became the most loyal of 
all cities, nearly the whole commercial and financial interests 
were arrayed against Lincoln, because they regarded the 
Republican party as disturbers of national tranquillity and of 
all the interests of trade. So strong was the conservative 
element among the old Whigs in that State that the name of 
Republican had to be discarded. Curtin was elected Gov- 
ernor as the candidate of the " People's party," and the del- 
egates to the Chicago convention represented only that or*- 
ganization. When Lincoln's election was announced the 
Democrats could not reconcile themselves to the mastery of 
a party they had so openly and persistently despised. 

I witnessed an interesting episode in Philadelphia, on the 
night of Lincoln's election. The Prince of Wales was then 
on a visit to this country, and had just arrived at the Con- 
tinental Hotel in Philadelphia. My headquarters as chair- 
man of the Lincoln committee were at the Girard House im- 
mediately opposite, and I saw the handsome young Prince, 
then a picture of manly vigor and beauty, stand on the 
Chestnut Street balcony for an hour, surrounded by his 
suite of nobles, watching what he regarded as the dying 
agonies of the Republic. The main streets of the city were 
crowded with shouting, wrangling, and rioting partisans, and 
the Prince obviously congratulated himself that he had just 
happened in this country in time to see its angry dissolution. 
He witnessed the riotous enthusiasm of the Republicans, and 
the much more riotous madness of the defeated party, until 
he wearied of it, and he was astounded the next morning to 
discover that the city was as quiet and serene as an average 
Philadelphia Sunday. 

Lincoln brought to the Presidency the strongest person- 
ality that has ever adorned the highest trust of the nation. 
It is studied with increased interest as time passes onward in 
its flight, and it is worthy of extended notice here. I had 
not met Lincoln personally until after his election. I had at- 
tended the Chicago convention as chairman of the State com- 
mittee along with Curtin, and bore some humble part in aid- 
ing the nomination of Lincoln ; and my correspondence with 

177 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

him during the campaign would have made one of the most 
interesting of Lincoln relics, but unfortunately the letters 
were destroyed when Chambersburg, including my own 
house, was burnt by General McCausland. 

Pennsylvania was the battle ground, and he naturally tried 
to keep in close touch with it. His letters were always 
kind and hopeful, sometimes quaint, and always going 
directly to the point of winning the State. He communicated 
with me even- week from the time I opened headquarters 
early in June until after the election, and I prized more 
highly the Lincoln correspondence of that struggle than any 
of all the many valued letters I have ever received. I think 
it safe to say that he was as familiar with the details of the 
contest in Pennsylvania as I was myself, and knew every 
element of strength and even* element of weakness in our 
lines. He was never enthusiastic or sentimental, but always 
thoroughly practical, with occasional flashes of his exquisite 
Western humor. 

After such intercourse with Lincoln, lasting from the be- 
ginning to the close of the great battle of his life, I of course 
had formed what I supposed to be an intelligent and accurate 
estimate of the character and attributes of the man, but I 
never had a glimpse of the grandeur of Lincoln's character 
until I met him personally at his home in Springfield on the 
3d of January, 1861. A contest over the appointment of 
Cameron to the Cabinet, in which I took part, in opposition 
to Cameron, made Lincoln telegraph me on the 26. of Janu- 
ary to visit him at Springfield. I was then a member of the 
Senate; the Legislature was just about to meet, and I made 
as hurried a trip as possible. I reached Springfield about 
seven o'clock on the evening of the 3d, having telegraphed 
him in advance that I would arrive at that hour and must re- 
turn at eleven. I went from the depot directly to his house, 
and when I rang the bell the door was opened by Lincoln 
himself, and I saw no other person during my stay. 

I think I did not well conceal my disappointment when I 
stood before him in the dimly lighted hall looking up into 
the face of the new President. There was nothing in his 
appearance calculated to make a favorable impression at first 
sight. He was illy clad, ungraceful in movement, and his 
rudely chiselled face, that was always sad in repose, clearly 
portrayed the fretting anxieties which his election to the 
Presidency to meet the severest trial of the Republic had 

178 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

brought upon him. He had then decided to appoint Cameron 
to the Cabinet, against which I had protested, and he had 
sent for me to know whether there were good reasons for a 
change of judgment. We sat down in his plainly furnished 
parlor, and for an hour or more he heard me patiently with 
evident interest. During this part of the conversation he 
said but little, but gave many incisive questions to be 
answered. He did not exhibit a single trace of humor, and it 
seemed to me most of the time as if I were making my ap- 
peal to a sphinx. He gave no sign whatever as to whether 
I impressed him or not, and when I left him I had not a 
single clue by which to judge what importance he had at- 
tached to my arguments, but before he retired that night he 
wrote a letter to Cameron revoking the appointment, and 
suggesting that Cameron should regard the position as ten- 
dered, and give a letter of declination. 

In that letter, which can be found in Nicolay and Hay's 
" Life of Lincoln," he uses this language : " You will say this 
comes of an interview with McClure,and this is partly but not 
wholly true." The result was that the position of Secretary 
of War was held open until Lincoln arrived in Washington, 
when Seward and Weed finally prevailed upon the President 
to give the position to Cameron. He advised me of his pur- 
pose after he had decided, and was much gratified for the 
assurance that no factional hostility would be made against 
either Cameron or the administration. Seward and Weed 
were much embittered at Curtin and Lane for defeating 
Seward at Chicago, and they dealt a retributive blow by 
securing the appointment of Cameron, as Cameron and Cur- 
tin were never in political accord after the bitter struggle 
they had for Senator in 1855. 

It was not until after the question of the Cabinet appoint- 
ment was dismissed that I had an opportunity to see some- 
thing of Lincoln as he was. It was my part to do the talking 
on the Cabinet issue ; after that it was his part to talk, and he 
gradually developed all the great and grand qualities of his 
character. He was appalled at the prospect of civil war be- 
ing the sequel of his election to the Presidency, and above 
all things, he wanted peace if consistent with the line of duty. 
He fully appreciated that he was confronted by graver prob- 
lems than had ever beset American statesmanship, and that 
he was compelled to meet the great issue of the threatened 
dismemberment of the Republic. 

179 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

He was painfully and profoundly impressed with the fear- 
ful responsibility that devolved upon him, but the first great 
attribute of his character developed by this discussion, or 
rather by his statements of the situation, was his unswerving 
fidelity to duty regardless of all personal or political inter- 
ests, and even regardless of life itself. He well understood 
that armed rebellion was apparently inevitable, and that he 
must meet the most appalling peril that ever confronted our. 
free government, and one for which neither the history of 
this Government nor of any other Government of the world 
furnished precedents to guide him in his course. The right 
of secession had been claimed and denied since the formation 
of the Constitution with almost equal ability and integrity, 
and there he was, crowned with the laurels of the highest 
trust of the civilized world, with the prospect of a nearly, 
united South in rebellion, and the North divided — and in- 
tensely divided — as to the power of the Government to main- 
tain the unity of the States by force. I heard Lincoln in this 
conversation but a short time before I discovered that he 
had but one purpose, from wdiich no interests could swerve 
him, and that was to perform his duty with fidelity and ac- 
cept the consequences. He felt that as a Republican Presi- 
dent he would owe it to his party to give it the advantages of 
power ; yet he understood that the Government could not be 
maintained without the co-operation of the Democrats. 

My next meeting with Lincoln was under circumstances 
well calculated to study his true character intelligently. I 
was one of a dozen or more who dined with him at what is 
now the Commonwealth Hotel in Harrisburg on the evening 
of the 22d of February, 1861. The dinner was given by 
Governor Curtin to the President-elect, and I believe that 
none of the guests are now living but myself. The story of 
Lincoln's sudden departure on the memorable midnight 
journey to Washington from Harrisburg on that night has 
been many times told, and in no instance with entire cor- 
rectness. He arrived in Philadelphia on the evening of Feb- 
ruary 21, and the published programme of his journey to 
Washington was from Philadelphia to Harrisburg on the 
226., and from Harrisburg to Washington by the Northern 
Central Railroad through Baltimore on the 23d. He was 
met in Philadelphia by Mr. Fenton, President of the Phila- 
delphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, and by Pinker- 
ton's detectives, who informed him that he could not pass 

180 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

through Baltimore according to his published programme 
without inviting assassination, that had been deliberately 
planned; and the son of Senator Seward brought Lincoln 
a letter signed by Seward and General Scott, insisting that 
he should change his route, because he could not safely pass 
through Baltimore if the time of his coming were known. 

He was earnestly urged to omit his Harrisburg appoint- 
ment and take the eleven o'clock train from Philadelphia to 
Washington that night, but he peremptorily refused, and left 
the question to be determined at Harrisburg. He hoisted 
the flag on Independence Hall early on the morning of the 
22d, and delivered an address that betrayed none of the 
serious emotions which must have agonized him at the 
time. He arrived at Harrisburg early in the afternoon, 
where I was one of the legislators to receive him, had a re- 
ception and delivered a brief address in the hall of the House, 
and soon after five o'clock he sat down to the dinner at the 
hotel as the guest of Governor Curtin, who was there advised 
by Colonel Lamon and Colonel Sumner of the information 
received in Philadelphia the night before, and of the neces- 
sity of considering the question of changing his route. 

Dinner was hastily served, when the servants were cleared 
from the dining-hall, and Governor Curtin stated the facts to 
the dining guests, and insisted that Lincoln's programme 
should be changed. Every one present promptly responded 
in approval, and the only silent man at the table was Lincoln. 
I sat near enough to him to watch and study his face, and 
there was not a sign of agitation upon it, and when he was 
called upon to give his views, it was at once made evident 
to all that he thought much more of commanding the respect 
and honor of the nation than of preserving his life. His 
answer was substantially, and I think exactly, in these 
words : " I cannot consent. What would the nation think of 
its President stealing into its capital like a thief in the 
night ? " His voice was clear and distinct, and his cool and 
earnest manner made his expression painfully pathetic. 

Fortunately, among the guests was the late Colonel 
Thomas A. Scott, and when Governor Curtin declared that 
the question was not one for Lincoln to decide, Colonel Scott 
at once proposed to take charge of the new programme, and 
send Lincoln back to Philadelphia on a special train in time 
to make the eleven o'clock from Broad and Prime Streets to 
Washington that night. Scott was a master alike in keen- 

181 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

ness of perception and swiftness of execution. He at once 
directed the Governor to take Lincoln down to the front of 
the hotel, where there were multitudes awaiting to cheer 
them, and loudly call a carriage to take them to the Executive 
Mansion, as that would be the natural place for them to go. 
They entered the carriage, drove up along the river front 
toward the Executive Mansion, and then made a detour to- 
reach the depot in thirty minutes, as instructed by Colonel 
Scott. I accompanied Colonel Scott to the depot, when he 
first cleared one track of his line to Philadelphia, forbidding 
anything to enter upon it until released, and with his own 
hands cut all of the few telegraph wires which then came into 
Harrisburg. A locomotive and a car were in readiness at the 
time appointed a square below the depot, where Lincoln and 
Curtin arrived with Colonel Lamon, and Lincoln and Lamon 
entered the car for their journey. When I shook hands with 
Lincoln and wished him God's protection on his journey, he 
was as cool and deliberate as ever in his life. 

Every precaution had been taken to prevent the knowledge 
of a change in Lincoln's programme being known to any 
who might possibly communicate by telegraph, and when 
the wires were all cut we felt assured that unless Lincoln 
should be accidentally detected in Philadelphia, none would 
know of his journey until he arrived at Washington. But 
one person in Philadelphia was advised of the movement, 
and he was Superintendent Kenney, of the Philadelphia, 
Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, still prominently con- 
nected with its service, who was instructed by Colonel Scott 
to meet Lincoln at the Pennsylvania depot and conduct him 
to the Broad and Prime station. Beyond Superintendent 
Kenney, no one outside of the few in Harrisburg who had 
arranged and started Lincoln on his journey had any knowl- 
edge of the change in his route. 

He was received by Superintendent Kenney in a carriage, 
taken to the Broad and Prime station, where a section of a 
sleeping car had been engaged for him, entered it without 
attracting attention, and at six o'clock the next morning he 
was in Washington. We had a sleepless and a terribly long 
and anxious night at Harrisburg, but about six o'clock 
Colonel Scott reunited the wires in his railroad station, and 
received the despatch : " Plums delivered Xuts safely," 
which announced the safe arrival of the President. 



182 




ANDREW JOHNSON 



THE LINCOLN-McCLELLAN CONTEST 

1864 

The average intelligent student of our Civil War a gen- 
eration after the conflict ended, with Lincoln's achievements 
in the grateful remembrance of every patriot, would natu- 
rally assume that Lincoln's re-election to the Presidency in 
1864 was never in any measure doubtful; but in fact three 
months after his renomination in Baltimore his defeat by 
General McClellan was generally apprehended by his friends 
and frankly conceded by Lincoln himself. On the 23d of 
August, 1864, he wrote the following with his signature 
appended : 

" This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly proba- 
ble that this administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my 
duty to co-operate with the President-elect so as to save the Union 
between the election and the inauguration, as he will have secured 
his election on such grounds that he cannot possibly save it after- 
ward." 

This paper he sealed and delivered to Secretary Welles 
with notice not to open it until after the election. 

There was very earnest opposition to Lincoln's renomina- 
tion by men of eminent ability and influential leadership in 
the Republican party. Chase, Wade, Henry Winter Davis, 
and Horace Greeley were bitterly opposed to accepting him 
as the Republican candidate for the second contest, as they 
believed that he could not be elected. In addition to these, 
Sumner was not heartily for him ; Stevens was earnestly op- 
posed to the President because he had not pressed confisca- 
tion and other punishments against the South, and the ex- 
treme radical wing of the Republican party was aggressive 
in its hostility. Lincoln's strength was with the people, and 
they overwhelmed the leaders who sought his overthrow. 

The only exhibition of weakness I ever saw in Lincoln was 

183 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

exhibited during what might be called the contest for his 
renomination. There was, in point of fact, no contest at all, 
as after all the efforts of the opposing leaders had been ex- 
hausted the Republican people rallied to his support and as- 
serted their mastery. He was painfully impressed with the 
apprehension that he might be defeated in the convention, 
and on a number of occasions I heard him discuss the ques- 
tion with a degree of interest that was painful. Even after a 
majority of all the delegates to the convention had been 
positively instructed for him, and certainly two-thirds of the 
remainder were publicly pledged to his support, he could not 
dismiss the fears of his possible defeat. 

I visited him several times within a month of the conven- 
tion, in obedience to his telegrams, when he discussed only 
the political dangers which beset him. He told me that his 
name would go into history darkly shadowed by a fraternal 
war that he would be held responsible for inaugurating if he 
were unable to continue in office to conquer the Rebellion and 
restore the Union. 

Lincoln was human, as are all men, and a more anxious 
candidate I have never known. The last time I conferred 
with him on the subject was within two weeks of the meeting 
of the convention, and I could hardly treat with respect his 
anxiety about his renomination. He had given close study 
to the election of delegates, and I called his attention to the 
fact that a decided majority were positively instructed for 
him, and that he certainly knew that a majority of the others 
could not be diverted from him. He had to admit that there 
seemed to be no plausible reason for doubting the result, but, 
with a merry twinkle of the eye, he said : 

" Well, McClure, I don't quite forget that I was nominated 
by a convention that was two-thirds for the other fellow." 

I had to admit that he had been nominated by a convention 
that was two-thirds for Seward, but no such conditions could 
arise as presented themselves in the Seward fight to swerve 
the convention from its purpose. 

So anxious was he about the situation that he made the 
very unreasonable request of me to become a delegate-at- 
large from Pennsylvania when I had already been unan- 
imously elected a delegate from my Congressional district. 
I vainly attempted to convince him that it mattered not 
whether I was a delegate-at-large or a district delegate, as 
my power to serve him would be just the same ; but he per- 

184 






AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

sisted in urging me to go before the State convention with 
the ungracious request to elect me a delegate-at-large — a 
position that was sought as one of honor — when I was 
already a member of the delegation from my district. 

The only possible explanation I could conceive was that, as 
Cameron was certain to be a delegate-at-large, he desired me 
to be one with Cameron, and thus have both the Cameron and 
Curtin wings of the party equally represented at the head of 
the delegation. Fortunately, political conditions enabled me 
to carry out his wish, and Cameron and I were elected on the 
ist ballot by a nearly unanimous vote. 

I never suspected Lincoln's purpose in asking me to 
change my position as a delegate until three days before the 
meeting of the convention, when I went to Washington in 
obedience to his summons. He then asked me to vote for 
the nomination of Andrew Johnson for Vice-President. He 
had Cameron already committed to the nomination of John- 
son as a War Democrat to succeed Hamlin, but he gave me 
no intimation of Cameron's position. I was favorable to the 
renomination of Hamlin, but after hearing Mr. Lincoln's 
reasons for the request he made I would have voted for 
Johnson in obedience to a sense of public duty, although 
Lincoln was not wrong in assuming that I was likely to vote 
for any candidate for Vice-President he specially desired. 
He was not opposed to Hamlin, but he knew that the success 
of the party depended upon bringing into the Republican 
fold a large body of War Democrats who had never become 
Republicans, such as Judge Holt, General Dix, General But- 
ler, and Governor Johnson, and he wished to nationalize 
the Republican party. — 

But the conclusive reason why he desired the nomination 
of Johnson was that it would most effectually prevent the 
recognition of the Confederacy by England and France. 
That was the great peril in the last year of the war, and Lin- 
coln believed that in no way could the success of the Govern- 
ment in the suppression of the Rebellion be so clearly pre- 
sented to the world as by taking Andrew Johnson, of Ten- 
nessee, who had filled every important position within the 
gift of his State, and elect him to the Vice-Presidency from a 
reorganized rebellious State in the heart of the Confeder- 
acy. It is needless to say that, notwithstanding my prejudice 
against Johnson, I agreed to support him; but Lincoln's 
caution prevented him from giving me any intimation as to 

185 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

the attitude of Cameron, who was equally pledged to Lin- 
coln in the Johnson cause. Cameron and I met at the con- 
vention in Baltimore on June 7 without either knowing the 
position of the other, and as our political relations were not 
of the confidential order, although our personal intercourse 
was always pleasant, it required some diplomacy for us to 
reach an understanding. Cameron had been committed to 
Hamlin, with whom he had served in the Senate, and was 
somewhat embarrassed, and he suggested that while he was 
friendly to Hamlin he did not believe that he could be nom- 
inated, to which I agreed. He then proposed that we should 
line up the two factions of the State in the delegation and 
cast a unanimous vote for Hamlin when the State was first 
called, and change it to a unanimous vote for Johnson 
when the roll-call ended, to which I readily assented ; and 
with some effort we had a harmonious delegation on that 
line with the exception of Thaddeus Stevens, who sat beside 
me when I cast my vote for Johnson, and who with a grim 
smile said to me : " Can't you find a candidate for Vice- 
President without going down into a d d rebel prov- 
ince? " The vote of the State was, however, recorded unani- 
mously for Johnson, and it was the like efforts of Lincoln in 
his very quiet and earnest way that made Andrew Johnson 
Vice-President and President. 

The Republican National Convention met in Baltimore on 
the 7th of June, 1864, and the venerable Rev. Dr. Robert J. 
Breckinridge, of Kentucky, was temporary president and 
Ex-Governor William Dennison, of Ohio, permanent presi- 
dent. Every State outside of the Southern Confederacy, and 
some that were partially inside of it, were fully represented. 
There was no contest for President, as the nomination of 
Lincoln was conceded. He received the unanimous vote of 
every State on 1st ballot with the exception of the Missouri 
delegation, that was instructed for Grant, and that was 
promptly changed to Lincoln to make the vote unanimous. 
There was a considerable undercurrent in the convention 
that was not friendly to Lincoln, but so powerless that no 
attempt was made to assert it. 

The important contest of the convention was for Vice- 
President. L T ntil a short time before the meeting it was 
generally expected that Vice-President Hamlin would be re- 
nominated with President Lincoln ; but when the delegates 
came together, opposition to Hamlin was developed and 

186 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

unexpectedly to many of the members, and it soon became 
evident that a powerful organization had been quietly crys- 
tallized to nominate Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, then 
Military Governor of that State. The ist ballot gave Andrew 
Johnson 200 and 150 for Hamlin and 108 for Dickinson, with 
61 votes scattered ; but before the ballot closed Pennsylvania 
led off by changing from Hamlin and giving a unanimous 
vote for Johnson. Stevens was opposed to the change, but 
finding himself alone in the delegation, he permitted his vote 
to be recorded with the majority. Other changes were made, 
and the ist and only ballot was finally announced as 494 
for Johnson, 17 for Dickinson, and 9 for Hamlin. The fol- 
lowing platform was prepared and reported to the convention 
by Henry J. Raymond, of New York, and unanimously 
adopted : 

1. Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen 
to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union, and 
the permanent authority of the Constitution and laws of the United 
States ; and that, laying aside all differences of political opinion, 
we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a common senti- 
ment, and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power 
to aid the Government in quelling by force of arms the rebellion 
now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment 
due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. 

2. Resolved, That we approve the determination of the Govern- 
ment of the United States not to compromise with rebels, or to offer 
them any terms of peace, except such as may be based upon an un- 
conditional surrender of their hostility and a return to their just 
allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States ; and 
that we call upon the Government to maintain this position, and to 
prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete 
suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing 
patriotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the Ameri- 
can people to their country and its free institutions. 

3. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes 
the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be, always and every- 
where, hostile to the principles of republican government, justice 
and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation 
from the soil of the Republic ; and that, while we uphold and main- 
tain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its 
own defence, has aimed a deathblow at this gigantic evil, we are in 
favor, furthermore, of such amendment to the Constitution, to be 
made by the people in conformity with its provisions, as shall ter- 
minate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the 
limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. 

4. Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to 
the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy who have perilled 
their lives in defence of their country and in vindication of the honor 
of its flag ; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition 

187 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

of their patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent pro- 
vision for those of their survivors who have received disabling 
and honorable wounds in the service of the country; and that the 
memories of those who have fallen in its defence shall be held in 
grateful and everlasting remembrance. 

5. Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, 
the unselfish patriotism, and the unswerving fidelity with which 
Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparal- 
leled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presiden- 
tial office ; that we approve and endorse, as demanded by the emer- 
gency and essential to the preservation of the nation and as within 
the provisions of the Constitution, the measures and acts which he 
has adopted to defend the nation against its open and secret foes ; 
that we approve, especially, the proclamation of emancipation and 
the employment as Union soldiers of men heretofore held in slavery; 
and that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these 
and all other constitutional measures essential to the salvation of 
the country into full and complete effect. 

6. Resolved, That we deem it essential to the general welfare 
that harmony should prevail in the national councils, and we regard 
as worthy of public confidence and official trust those only who 
cordially endorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, 
and which should characterize the administration of the Govern- 
ment. 

7. Resolved, That the Government owes to all men employed in 
its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protec- 
tion of the laws of war; and that any violation of these laws, or of 
the usages of civilized nations in time of war, by the rebels now in 
arms, should be made the subject of prompt and full redress. 

8. Resolved, That foreign immigration, which in the past has 
added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and in- 
crease of power to this nation — the asylum of the oppressed of all 
nations — should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just 
policy. 

9. Resolved, That we are in favor of a speedy construction of the 
railroad to the Pacific coast. 

10. Resolved, That the national faith, pledged for the redemp- 
tion of the public debt, must be kept inviolate, and that for this 
purpose we recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the 
public expenditures, and a vigorous and just system of taxation; 
and that it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit and 
promote the use of the national currency. 

11. Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the Govern- 
ment, that the people of the United States can never regard with 
indifference the attempt of any European power to overthrow by 
force or to supplant by fraud the institutions of any republican 
Government on the western continent ; and that they will view with 
extreme jealousy, as menacing to the peace and independence of 
their own country, the efforts of any such power to obtain new foot- 
holds for monarchical governments, sustained by foreign military 
force, in near proximity to the United States. 

The sixth resolution, read in the light of the present, would 
seem to be a very harmless and proper expression on general 

188 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

principles, but every member of the convention voted for it, 
well understanding that it meant a demand from the supreme 
authority of the party that Montgomery Blair should retire 
from the position of Postmaster-General. He was not in 
harmony with the policy of the administration, but Lincoln 
hesitated to remove him, as their personal relations were 
always pleasant. Some weeks after the convention had 
adjourned the more earnest opponents of Postmaster-General 
Blair were disappointed that Lincoln did not remove him, 
and several of them called upon Lincoln to explain why he 
had not obeyed the command of the party. Lincoln answered 
that he fully recognized the right of the Republican party, 
through its highest tribunal, to instruct him as to members 
of the Cabinet, but he added, with a significant twinkle of 
the eye, that those resolutions related to the next adminis- 
tration and not to the present. Soon thereafter, however, 
Mr. Blair resigned, and Governor Dennison, of Ohio, suc- 
ceeded him. 

The Democratic convention met in Chicago on August 29, 
and Horatio Seymour was permanent president. It was 
on the 23d of the same month that Lincoln had written 
the paper before referred to, expressing his settled belief 
that he would be defeated. Grant had been hammering 
away between the Wilderness and the James with appalling 
sacrifice of life and without visible substantial results. Sher- 
man had been fighting his way toward Atlanta, and had 
never won anything approaching a victory over Johnson. 
Thus the summer was well-nigh ended without the inspira- 
tion of victory, and the long, fearful strain and sacrifice 
suffered by the people made many patriotic hearts inclined 
to accept peace on any reasonable terms. 

The Democratic convention thus met justwhen the country 
was most profoundly impressed with the terrible sacrifices 
of war and the apprehension that the military power of the 
Confederacy could not be conquered. It was this condition 
that made the Democrats commit the fatal blunder of declar- 
ing in their national platform, " As the sense of the American 
people that, after four years of failure to restore the Union 
by the experiment of war, under the pretence of a military 
necessity of a war power higher than the Constitution," 
considerations of humanity, liberty, and the public welfare 
demand " that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of 
hostilities with a view to an ultimate convention of all the 

189 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

States." Had the election been held at that time, McClellan 
would have been elected, but the delegates from the Demo- 
cratic convention when on their way home after their fatal 
deliverance against the war met the people at every city and 
village cheering to the echo over the capture of Atlanta, and 
by night they found almost a continuous line of torches 
displayed by crowds cheering themselves hoarse over the 
great victory that was the beginning of the end of the war. 

It was universally accepted by the Democrats before, the 
Chicago convention met that General George B. McClellan 
would be their candidate. He had been in retirement at 
Orange, N. J., after he had been removed from the command 
of the Army of the Potomac in the fall of 1862, and his 
friends were very enthusiastic in his support. It was believed 
that he had sufficient flavor of the soldier to hold war 
Democrats, and he was known to be in very positive antago- 
nism with the whole political and war policy of the President. 
He was a man of blameless character and altogether the 
strongest candidate upon whom the Democrats could unite. 
The 1st and only ballot for President in the convention gave 
174 votes to McClellan, with 38 for Thomas H. Seymour, 
of Connecticut, 12 for Horatio Seymour, of New York, with 
J vote for Charles O'Conor, of New York, and ij votes 
blank. Changes were made before the ballot closed, giving 
McClellan 202J votes to 28J for Thomas H. Seymour, and 
the nomination of McClellan was made unanimous with 
great enthusiasm. 

There was only one ballot for Vice-President, as follows : 



James Guthrie, Ky 65^ 

Geo. H. Pendleton, Ohio. .55j| 
Lazarus W. Powell, Ky . . . 32>| 
George W. Cass, Pa 26 



Daniel W. Voorhees, Ind. . ..13 

J. H. Caton 16 

Augustus C. Dodge, Iowa. . . 9 
John S. Phelps, Mo 8 



Very soon after the 2d ballot began Mr Guthrie's name 
was withdrawn, followed by the withdrawal of other candi- 
dates, and Mr. Pendleton was nominated unanimously. The 
following platform was adopted with little opposition : 

Resolved, That in the future, as in the past, we will adhere with 
unswerving fidelity to the Union under the Constitution as the only- 
solid foundation of our strength, security, and happiness as a people, 
and as a framework of Government equally conducive to the wel- 
fare and prosperity of all the States, both Northern and Southern. 

Resolved, That this convention does explicitly declare, as the 



190 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to 
restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the 
pretence of a military necessity, or war power higher than the Con- 
stitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, 
and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the ma- 
terial prosperity of the country essentially impaired — justice, hu- 
manity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate 
efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ulti- 
mate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the 
end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored 
on the basis of the Federal union of the States. 

Resolved, That the direct interference of the military authorities 
of the United States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Mary- 
land, Missouri, and Delaware was a shameful violation of the Con- 
stitution ; and a repetition of such acts in the approaching election 
will be held as revolutionary, and resisted with all the means and 
power under our control. 

Resolved, That the aim and object of the Democratic party is to 
preserve the Federal Union and the rights of the States unimpaired; 
and they hereby declare that they consider that the administrative 
usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by 
the Constitution; the subversion of the civil by military law in 
States not in insurrection ; the arbitrary military arrest, imprison- 
ment, trial, and sentence of American citizens in States where civil 
law exists in full force; the suppression of freedom of speech and of 
the press ; the denial of the right of asylum ; the open and avowed 
disregard of State rights ; the employment of unusual test oaths ; 
and the interference with and denial of the right of the people to 
bear arms in their defence ; are calculated to prevent a restoration of 
the Union and the perpetuation of a Government deriving its just 
powers from the consent of the governed. 

Resolved, That the shameful disregard of the administration to 
its duty in respect to our fellow-citizens who are now, and long have 
been, prisoners of war and in a suffering condition, deserves the 
severest reprobation, on the score alike of public policy and com- 
mon humanity. 

Resolved, That the sympathy of the Democratic party is heartily 
and earnestly extended to the soldiery of our army and the sailors 
of our navy, who are and have been in the field and on the sea, under 
the flag of our country ; and, in the event of its attaining power, they 
will receive all the care, protection, and regard that the brave sol- 
diers and sailors of the Republic have so nobly earned. 

The renomination of Lincoln by the Republican National 
Convention was so entirely assured early in the year that 
the Republican opponents of the President made a desperate 
effort to crystallize an opposition to Lincoln of such formid- 
able character as to compel the national convention to choose 
another candidate. The call for the Republican convention 
to meet at Baltimore was issued on the 226. of February, 
and very active efforts were made by the leaders of the 

191 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

opposition to place a Republican ticket in the field before 
Lincoln could be renominated. A mass convention was 
called, to meet at Cleveland on the 31st of May, and some 
three hundred and fifty responded to the call. John Coch- 
rane, of New York, was made permanent president, and 
without the formality of a ballot John C. Fremont was 
nominated for President and John Cochrane for Vice- 
President by acclamation. Both promptly accepted the 
nominations, but instead of inspiring Republican revolt 
against Lincoln, as was anticipated, the nominations gave 
no exhibition of popular strength, and after considerable 
conference between the insurgents and the regulars, Fremont 
and Cochrane announced their retirement from the contest 
on the 2 1 st of September, and urged the re-election of 
Lincoln. The following platform was adopted by the Fre- 
mont convention : 



First. That the Federal Union shall be preserved. 

Second. That the Constitution and laws of the United States must 
be observed and obeyed. 

Third. That the Rebellion must be suppressed by force of arms, 
and without compromise. 

Fourth. That the rights of free speech, free press, and the habeas 
corpus be held inviolate, save in districts where martial law has 
been proclaimed. 

Fifth. That the Rebellion has destroyed slavery, and the Federal 
Constitution should be amended to prohibit its re-establishment, 
and to secure to all men absolute equality before the law. 

Sixth. That integrity and economy are demanded at all times in 
the administration of the Government, and that in time of war the 
want of them is criminal. 

Seventh. That the right of asylum, except for crime and sub- 
ject to law, is a recognized principle of American liberty; that 
any violation of it cannot be overlooked, and must not go unre- 
buked. 

Eighth. That the national policy known as the " Monroe Doc- 
trine" has become a recognized principle, and that the establish- 
ment of an anti-republican government on this continent by any 
foreign power cannot be tolerated. 

Ninth. That the gratitude and support of the nation are due to 
the faithful soldiers and the earnest leaders of the Union army and 
navy for their heroic achievements of deathless valor in defence of 
our imperilled country and civil liberty. 

Tenth. That the one-term policy for the Presidency adopted by 
the people is strengthened by the force of the existing crisis, and 
should be maintained by constitutional amendments. 

Eleventh. That the Constitution should be so amended that the 
President and Vice-President shall be elected by a direct vote of the 
people. 

192 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



Twelfth. That the question of the reconstruction of the rebellious 
States belongs to the people, through their representatives in Con- 
gress, and not to the Executive. 

Thirteenth. That the confiscation of the lands of the rebels, and 
their distribution among the soldiers and actual settlers, is a meas- 
ure of justice. 

The country was prepared, at the time the Democratic 
platform was adopted, to receive its demands relating to the 
war with some respect, but the aspect of the contest was 
speedily changed by Sherman's capture of Atlanta and 
Sheridan's brilliant victories in the Shenandoah Valley. 
General McClellan and his friends appreciated the unfortu- 
nate expression of the convention against the war, that was 
made very generally odious among loyal people by the 
thrilling victories of the army, and in his letter of acceptance, 
that he delayed long enough to give the fullest consideration 
to the subject, he plainly dissented from the war plank of 
the platform. He said : " I could not look in the face of my 
gallant comrades of the army and navy who have survived 
so many bloody battles and tell them that their labors and 
the sacrifice of so many of our slain and wounded brethren 
had been in vain, that we had abandoned that Union for 
which we have so often perilled our lives ;" to which he 
added : " No peace can be permanent without union." 

While the contest had been fairly doubtful and at times 
exceedingly gloomy for Lincoln, the victories of Sherman 
and Sheridan caused a sudden tidal wave, that utterly over- 
whelmed McClellan and left him the worst defeated candi- 
date of history in any contested election, receiving only 21 
electoral votes to 212 for Lincoln. The following table 
gives the popular and electoral vote, with the soldier vote 
in a separate table, as cast in the field : 



STATTP^ 


Popular Vote. 


Electoral Vote. 




Lincoln. 


McClellan. 


Lincoln. 


McClellan. 


Maine 


72,278 
36,595 
42,422 
126,742 
14,343 
44,693 


47,736 
33,034 
13,325 

48,745 

8,718 

42,288 


7 
5 
5 

12 
4 
6 




New Hampshire 

Vermont 


— 


Massachusetts . . . 




Rhode Island 




Connecticut 









193 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



STATES. 



Popular Vote. 



Lincoln. ' McClellan. 



New York 
New Jersey. . . 
Pennsylvania 
Delaware .... 

Maryland 

Kentucky .... 
West Virginia. 

Ohio 

Indiana , 

Illinois 

Michigan 

Iowa 

Wisconsin 

Minnesota 

Kansas 

Missouri 

Nevada* 

California 

Oregon 



Totals. 



368,726 

60,723 

296,389 

8,155 

40,153 

27,786 

23.223 

265.154 

150,422 

189,487 

85,352 

87,331 

79,564 

25.060 

14,228 

72,991 

9,826 

62,134 

9.SSS 



2.213,665 



361, 

68, 

276. 

8, 

32, 

64, 

10, 

205, 

130, 

158, 

67, 

49, 

63, 

17, 

3, 

31, 

6, 

43, 



986 
014 
308 
767 
739 
301 
457 
568 
233 
349 
370 
260 
875 
375 
871 
026 
594 
841 
457 



1,802.237 



Electoral Vote. 



Lincoln. ! McClellan. 



33 



26 





21 
13 
16 



4 

3 

11 

2 

5 
3 



212 



11 



21 



*Xevada chose three electors, one of whom died before election. 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Pennsylvania . . . 

Maryland 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Iowa 

Wisconsin 

California 

Totals 



Soldier Vote. 



Lincoln. 



4,174 

2,066 

243 

26,712 
2,800 
1,194 

41,146 
9,402 

15,178 

11,372 
2,600 



116,887 



McClellan. 



741 

690 

49 

12,349 

321 
2,823 
9,757 
2,959 
1,364 
2,458 

237 



33.74S 



The army vote of Vermont, Kansas,, and Minnesota was 
not received in time to be taken into the official count, and 
part of the vote of Wisconsin was rejected for informality. 

194 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

The States of Tennessee and Louisiana also held elections 
and were carried for Lincoln, but their votes were not neces- 
sary to the election of the Republican ticket, and although 
Lincoln earnestly desired that these States should be recog- 
nized and the votes counted, Congress, by joint resolution, 
that Lincoln signed with great reluctance, declared that they 
should not be recognized, and they were omitted in the final 
count by Congress. 

Pennsylvania was the only Republican State that faltered 
in the fall elections of 1864. There was no State ticket to 
be chosen, and the Republicans in charge of the campaign 
assumed that Lincoln would carry the State without extraor- 
dinary efforts, while the friends of McClellan, a native of 
the State, with strong individual and social relations, made 
exhaustive efforts to give him the victory. 

The October election was practically a stand-off, and 
Lincoln telegraphed me on the morning after the election 
to come to Washington. He was much distressed at the 
attitude of our State, and apprehensive that New York, with 
Horatio Seymour as Governor, one of the ablest Democrats 
of the country, might vote for McClellan, as Tammany was 
then in the very zenith of its power. I had been Chairman 
of the State Committee when Lincoln was elected in i860, 
and General Cameron was my successor in 1864. He was 
thoroughly competent for the task, but evidently did not 
appreciate the perils which confronted him. Lincoln asked 
me to join Cameron and devote the intervening month 
between the October and November elections to assure a 
victory. I answered that I could not make the suggestion 
to Cameron, as our political relations were not especially 
friendly, to which he replied, asking me whether I would 
do it if so requested by Cameron. I of course assented, and 
the following day I received a letter from Cameron at my 
home in Chambersburg, requesting me to join him, where 
I found Honorable Wayne MacVeagh, who had been the 
Republican chairman the year before and who was then not 
more friendly to Cameron than myself. We all united in 
an earnest effort to win the State, always acting in entire 
harmony with Cameron and his committee. 

I had private quarters at the Continental, while Cameron's 
quarters were at the Girard, and, as requested, advised 
Lincoln each day of the apparent progress of the battle. 
My reports were not so assuring as he desired, for the 

195 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

friends of McClellan, inspired by the partial victory of 
October, renewed their energies for the November fight. 
Postmaster-General Dennison came to see me on a special 
mission from Lincoln about two weeks before the election 
to learn the situation as precisely as possible, and I had to 
tell him that I saw but little hope of carrying the State on 
the home vote. The army vote would doubtless be largely 
for Lincoln and give him the State, but it would be declared 
a "bayonet election," and with such a result in Pennsylvania, 
and New York lost, as was possible, while Lincoln's election 
could not be defeated, as the Southern States did not vote, 
the moral power of the new administration to prosecute the 
war and attain peace would be greatly impaired. My answer 
to Lincoln was that I would go to Washington within a few 
days if it should appear necessary to take extreme measures 
to save the State on the home vote. 

As the political conditions did not improve, I telegraphed 
to Lincoln that I would meet him at nine o'clock in the 
evening to discuss the campaign. I found him nervously 
anxious about Pennsylvania, although not doubting his 
re-election. He knew that New York was trembling in the 
balance and might be lost, and his fears were fully war- 
ranted, as he had but little over 6000 majority in a million 
votes. I told him that I had not confidence in the State 
being carried by the home vote, but that it could be done 
without interfering with the military operations of the army, 
as Grant was then besieging Petersburg and Sheridan had 
whipped the Confederates clear out of the valley. I sug- 
gested that he should in some way have Grant furlough 
five thousand Pennsylvania soldiers home for twenty days, 
and that Sheridan should do the same, as that vote cast at 
home would insure a home majority. He hesitated about 
making the request of Grant for reasons which I could not 
understand, and I then suggested that General Meade was 
a soldier and a gentleman, and that he could safely senc 
an order to him as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, 
and that Meade would obey it and permit the order to be 
returned. 

A messenger from the War Office went the next morning 
to Meade, bearing the order from Lincoln, brought it bad 
with him, and fully five thousand Pennsylvania soldiers wen 
furloughed to return home. I said : " How about Sheridan ?" 
Lincoln's face brightened and with great enthusiasm he said : 

196 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

" Oh, Phil ; he's all right." 

The same order went to Sheridan, of which no record was 
ever kept, and Sheridan sent five thousand of his veterans 
home to vote as they shot, and Lincoln's majority on the 
home vote was 5712, to which the army vote added 14,363, 
making a total majority in the State of 20,075. 

It is not generally known how earnestly Lincoln labored 
for compensated emancipation. He made earnest efforts 
to save the Border States to the Union by the assurance of 
compensation for slaves, and even after all the slave States 
south of the Potomac and the Ohio had joined the Confed- 
eracy, he adhered to the policy of compensated emancipation 
until the day of his death. In August, 1864, when the 
political situation presented a very gloomy aspect, I had 
a long conference with Lincoln at the White House, and 
he then introduced the subject of compensated emancipa- 
tion. 

In that conversation he gave me the first intimation of 
his purpose to try and end the war by paying the South 
$400,000,000 as compensation for the freedom of the slaves. 
He had the proposition written out in his own handwriting, 
but he well knew that if such a purpose on his part were 
made public, it would make his re-election impossible. He 
discussed it freely and very earnestly, however, and said 
that he regarded compensated emancipation as the only 
way to restore fellowship between the States. He did not 
doubt the ability of the North to overthrow the military 
power of the Confederacy, but what he most feared was 
that the people of the South, driven to desperation by the 
severe sacrifices they had suffered, and the general desola- 
tion of their country, that gave them no hope of regaining 
prosperity, would make their armies disband into guerrilla 
squads and would be implacable in their resentments against 
the Government. 

In all of the many expressions I heard Lincoln make use 
of, toward the close of the war, he always exhibited an 
earnest desire to do something that would impressively teach 
the Southern people that they were not to be held as con- 
quered subjects of a despotic power, but were to come back 
into the Union and enjoy the blessings of a reunited people. 

Lincoln believed that in no way could he so widely and 
profoundly impress the Southern people with the desire of 
the Government to deal with them in generous justice as 

197 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

by paying them $400,000,000 as compensation for the loss 
of their slaves. I can never forget the earnestness with 
which he spoke of this proposition at a time when he did 
not dare breathe it to the public. He said the war was 
costing $4,000,000 a day, and that it would certainly last 
for more than four months, thus costing the Government 
more than the whole amount he would have gladly given as 
compensation for the freedom of the slaves, not to calculate 
the sacrifice of life and destruction of property. He fretted 
because he could not convey to the South what he bejieved 
should be done to close the war and enable them to re- 
establish their homes and fruitful fields. He believed in his 
theory of compensated emancipation until his death, and he 
abandoned it only a short time before the surrender of Lee. 
He would have suggested it to Vice-President Stephens, of 
the Confederacy, at their City Point meeting in the winter 
of 1865, had not Stephens advised him at the outset that he 
was instructed by Jefferson Davis to entertain no proposition 
that did not perpetuate the Confederacy, and after his return 
he wrote a message to Congress in favor of it, submitted it 
to his Cabinet, by which it was nearly or quite unanimously 
disapproved, and he endorsed upon it the disapproval of the 
Cabinet and laid it away. 

Lincoln was the most notable combination of sadness and 
mirth that I ever met with in any of our public men. His 
face in repose, under all circumstances, was one of the 
saddest I ever beheld. It would brighten in conversation, 
and at times would portray a measure of sorrow that could 
not be surpassed. He was from his youth much given to 
melancholy. While he was known as fond of sports and 
brimful of humor, a very large portion of his life was 
always given to isolation and solitude, when he gave free 
latitude to the melancholy tendencies of his mind. 

Strange as it may seem, he was always a hopeful man, 
never pessimistic, and always inclined when discussing any 
question to take the bright side. He was severely conscien- 
tious in his convictions and in his actions. He had faith in 
the present and greater faith in the future. He had been in 
early life what is now commonly called an agnostic, with a 
strong inclination to atheism, but in his mature years he 
never exhibited a trace of it. I have never known any man 
who had greater reverence for God than Abraham Lincoln. 
Throughout his writings, political and otherwise, will be 

198 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

found multiplied expressions of his abiding faith in the Great 
Ruler of nations and individuals. 

In a single sentence to be found in Lincoln's second in- 
augural address the country and the world have the most 
complete portrayal of his character. When he was inau- 
gurated for a second term as President, on the 4th of 
March, 1865, the military power of the Confederacy was 
broken, and many in his position would have exhibited the 
pride of the victor over the vanquished on such an occasion ; 
but after stating in the kindest and most temperate language 
the duty of himself and of the patriotic people of the country 
to protect the Union against dismemberment, he does not 
utter a word of resentment against the South. " With mal- 
ice toward none; with charity for all," was the brief and 
eloquent sentence in which he defined the duty of those who 
had then substantially destroyed the power of the Rebellion. 
That beautiful expression came from the heart of Abraham 
Lincoln, and it profoundly impressed the whole country, then 
wildly impassioned by the bitterness of fraternal strife. He 
knew the resentments which must confront him in restoring 
the shattered fragments of the Union, and his supreme desire 
was to have the bitterness of the conflict perish when peace 
came. 

No man who has filled the Presidential chair was so vin- 
dictively and malignantly defamed as was Lincoln in the 
South. The opponents of the war in the North were guilty 
of unpardonable assaults upon his integrity, his ability, and 
his methods, but the South had no knowledge of him, as he 
had filled no important part in national affairs before his 
election to the Presidency; and his humble birth in Ken- 
tucky, close by the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, and his 
exaggerated rudeness of appearance and manner made the 
people of the South ready to believe anything to his discredit. 
He was proclaimed throughout the Confederacy as a second 
Nero; as a bloody and remorseless butcher; as a vulgar 
clown who met the sorrows of the nation with ribald jest. 
Not a single virtue was conceded to him. 

No one could know Lincoln well without seeing some 
features of his home life. I have seen him in grave conversa- 
tion with public men on the most momentous subjects, when 
' Tad " Lincoln, his favorite boy, would rush into the room, 
bounce on to his father's lap, throw his arms around his neck, 
and play hobby-horse on his foot regardless of all the sacred 

199 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

affairs of State. There never was a frown from the father, 
and the fretting questions of even a great war seemed to per- 
ish until '" Tad '" had completed his romp. The greatest sor- 
row of Lincoln's life shadowed the altar of his own home, 
and it was one he had to suffer in silence. The calamity that 
befell Mrs. Lincoln after his death was visible to those who 
had opportunity to see for themselves at an early period of 
his administration. Mrs. Lincoln was mentally unbalanced, 
but not sufficiently so to prevent the performance of her so- 
cial functions, and her vagaries often led to severe reflections 
upon the President, at times even to the extent of charging 
her with sympathy for the South, as her brothers were prom- 
inent in the Southern army. 

I first saw Mrs. Lincoln at Harrisburg on the night that 
Lincoln made his midnight journey to Washington, and the 
greatest difficulty we had on that occasion was to prevent her 
from creating a scene that would have given publicity to the 
movement. I thought her a fool, and was so disgusted with 
her that I never spoke to her afterward, although I had fre- 
quently gone with ladies to her receptions. I wronged her, 
for she was then not wholly responsible, and soon after Lin- 
coln's death the climax came, leaving her to grope out the 
remainder of her life in the starless midnight of insanity. 
With Lincoln's many other sorrows, considering his love of 
home and family, it may be understood how keenly he suf- 
fered, and how he was clouded by shadows for which the 
world could give no relief. 

Xo man ever came in contact with Abraham Lincoln who 
did not learn to love, honor, and even reverence him. His 
ablest political enemies ever paid the highest tributes, not 
only to his personal attributes, but to his masterly ability, and 
none surpassed Stephen A. Douglas, the ablest foeman Lin- 
coln ever met, in his appreciation of Lincoln's qualities. He 
had to accept vastly the gravest responsibilities ever put 
upon any President of the L'nited States, and I am quite sure 
that no other man could have filled Lincoln's place during 
the Civil "War with equal safety to the Republic. Had he 
been vindictive and resentful his fame would not be without 
blemish to-day. 

"What was to me the most beautiful tribute I have ever 
heard paid to him came from the lips of Jefferson Davis, 
when I visited him at his home in Mississippi some ten years 
after the war. He never tired of discussing the character 

200 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

and the actions of Lincoln, and asked me many questions 
about his personal qualities. After he had heard all that 
could be given in the brief time that I had, he said with a 
degree of mingled earnestness and pathos that few could 
have equalled: 

" Next to the destruction of the Confederacy, the death of 
Abraham Lincoln was the darkest day the South has ever 
known." 



THE GRANT-SEYMOUR CONTEST 

1868 



To the casual reader of our political history, the election 
and re-election of Grant to the Presidency immediately after 
the close of the war would seem to be a result at once logical 
and inevitable ; but there are few of the present day who have 
any knowledge of the many obstacles which confronted 
Grant in his transfer from the highest military to the highest 
civil duties of the nation. 

It is noted that Grant, the Great Captain of the Age. was 
elected and re-elected by large majorities ; that General 
Hayes, another soldier of national fame, succeeded him ; 
that General Garfield, a soldier-statesman, succeeded Hayes, 
defeating Hancock, the most brilliant Democratic soldier of 
the war, by only a few thousands on the popular vote ; that 
Blaine, the first civilian candidate of the party, was the first 
Republican to suffer defeat after the political revolution of 
i860; that General Harrison, another honored soldier, was 
successful as the Republican candidate in 1888, and that 
Major McKinley, now Chief Magistrate of the Republic, 
carried his musket as a private in the flame of battle, and 
came out of the war an officer promoted for gallantry. With 
such a line of military Presidents, the natural assumption of 
the student of our political history would be that General 
Grant's election came about because none could question its 
fitness. 

There were very serious obstacles to Grant's nomination 
for the Presidency by the Republicans in 1868. First, he 
was not a Republican and never had been. He had never 
voted a Republican ticket, and he never cast a Republican 
ballot until after he had been eight years a Republican Presi- 
dent. His last vote before he re-entered the army was cast 
for a radical pro-slavery Democrat, and he did not even sym- 

202 




U. S. GRANT 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

pathize with Stephen A. Douglas in i860, although he lived 
in Illinois, the home of the great Democratic leader of that 
day. Second, he was resolutely averse to being a candidate 
for the Presidency. He was General of the Army, with free- 
dom to retire without diminution of pay ; he had no political 
training, and felt himself unfitted for a political career. He 
was honest and apparently fixed in his purpose not to become 
a candidate. These objections at first appeared to be in- 
superable obstacles to Grant's nomination, but he was 
human, and had he declined the Presidency when it was ap- 
parently within his reach, he would have stood as the only 
man in the history of the Republic who had refused its 
crown. 

The Democrats were in a hopeless condition, and they at 
once began a systematic movement to make him their candi- 
date. This alarmed the Republicans, and they made equally 
earnest and methodical efforts to make him their leader. It 
is doubtful upon which side General Grant would have fallen 
had it not been for the early estrangement between President 
Johnson and himself. Johnson made repeated attempts to 
overslaugh him either directly or indirectly. He ordered 
Grant to Mexico to get him out of the country, but Grant re- 
fused to go, and he afterward made an earnest effort to 
supersede Grant by calling General Thomas to the command 
of the army, but Thomas stubbornly refused to consider the 
call. As the Republicans were then in bitter warfare against 
Johnson> Grant logically found sympathy in Republican cir- 
cles, and finally, with visible reluctance, he agreed to become 
the candidate of the Republicans. Had he been nominated 
by the Democrats he would have been elected, but his admin- 
istration would have greatly conserved and liberalized the 
Democratic teachings of that day. His final assent to be- 
come the Republican candidate for President was obtained 
by the late Colonel Forney. 

The assassination of Lincoln and the succession of Vice- 
President Johnson to the Presidency repeated the political 
history of Tyler and Fillmore in a radical change of the pol- 
icy of the Government. Johnson started under a cloud in his 
career as Vice-President. On the day of his inauguration he 
appeared in the Senate visibly intoxicated, and delivered a 
maudlin harangue so disgraceful that a correct report was 
never permitted to be given to the public. The report of that 
address as severely modified by the omission of the most of- 

203 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

fensive expressions was highly discreditable. He was im- 
mediately hurried away to the country residence of the elder 
Francis P. Blair, and there remained most of the time until 
more than a month later, when Lincoln was assassinated. 
He never attempted to resume his place in the Senate as 
presiding officer, although he was frequently in Washington 
and was there on the night of the assassination. 

As President he at first startled the country by the most 
violent demands for the punishment of all those prominently 
igaged in the Rebellion. His favorite declaration was that 
e made odious." It was not long, however, 
until his i were materially changed, and he gradually 

ire sympathy with the South and aggressively 
icy of the Republicans in Congress. It was 
■•etween the Executive and the legislative 
powers ot tne Government that led to the radical policy of 
reconstruction and the wholesale enfranchisement of the col- 
ored voters of the South. All the reconstruction measures 
were vetoed by the President and passed over his veto by the 
Senate and House, and the issue grew more and more in bit- 
terness until it culminated in the impeachment of Johnson, 
in which he escaped conviction by a single vote. Grant and 
Johnson had an acrimonious dispute when Grant, as Secre- 
tary of War ad interim, admitted Stanton back to the office 
after the Senate had refused to approve his removal by the 
President, and from that time Grant and Johnson never met 
or exchanged courtesies on any other than official occasions, 
where the necessity for it was imperative. When the ar- 
rangements were about to be made for the inauguration of 
Grant, he peremptorily refused to permit President Johnson 
to accompany him in the carriage to the Capitol for the in- 
auguration ceremonies, and Johnson did not make his ap- 
pearance on that occasion. 

I never met President Johnson but once during his term 
in the White House. I had met him casually before and 
during the war, but cherished a strong prejudice against him 
as an arch demagogue because of a debate between him and 
Senator Bell, his colleague from Tennessee, that I happened 
to hear in the Senate. Bell was one of the ablest and most 
dignified of Senators, and I never witnessed a more offensive 
exhibition of the studied arts of the demagogue than John- 
son displayed in that Senatorial controversy. It was on some 
phase of the sectional issue, and Bell's exalted patriotism and 

204 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

manly plea for union and fellowship contrasted with John- 
son as the soaring eagle contrasts with the mousing owl. I 
had voted for his nomination for Vice-President in the Re- 
publican convention of 1864, because I surrendered my own 
preferences to considerations of expediency presented by 
Lincoln. 

When he made the disgraceful exhibition of himself on 
inauguration day as he appeared as Vice-President in the 
Senate, I published an editorial in my Chambersburg paper 
denouncing Johnson as having offended against the dignity 
and decency not only of our own Government, but of civilized 
governments throughout the world, and demanded his resig- 
nation. Little more than a month thereafter he became Pres- 
ident, and a troop of new friends flocked about him. It is 
needless to say that he was soon advised of the severe Civ- 
icism I had made upon the inauguration address. I did not 
see or hear from him or communicate with him in any way 
until the early fall, when Governor Curtin informed me that 
he had received a request from the President for Curtin and 
myself to visit him at Washington. My answer to Curtin 
was that as he was in an official position it was probably his 
duty to regard a request from the President as a command, 
but as I was not anybody of consequence, I would not go. 
Within a fortnight a second and more pressing request was 
made to Curtin for us to come to Washington to confer with 
the President on the political situation. Curtin felt that we 
should go. He thought it possible that Johnson might yet 
be saved from political apostasy, although I had no confi- 
dence whatever in the future of the administration, judging 
from the surroundings he had invited, but I accompanied the 
Governor to Washington and called upon the President. 

At that time Johnson had attempted and largely carried 
out a scheme of reconstruction of his own, that had gradually 
drifted him into very close and sympathetic relations with 
the ruling class of the South that had been active in rebellion. 
He had appointed provisional Governors, Legislatures had 
been chosen, Congressmen and Senators had been elected to 
some extent, and I was utterly surprised to find the President 
entirely confident that his scheme of reconstruction would be 
sanctioned by Congress. I was well informed by conference 
with the leading Republicans of the North as to the policy 
they would pursue in Congress, and I knew that there was 
not the shadow of a chance for any of his reconstructed 

205 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

States to be readmitted into the Union on the basis of his 

policy. 

Curtin's more responsible official position and general dis- 
trust made him quite willing to avoid discussion with the 
President, who opened the conversation by an earnest ap- 
peal to us to give tranquillity to the country and renewed 
prosperity to business by accepting his method of reconstruc- 
tion, that he always spoke of as " my policy.'' I answered 
by stating that it would be simply a waste of time and effort 
to attempt to maintain his policy, as not a single Senator and 
Representative then elected to the next Congress, or to be 
elected thereafter by Southern States as then reconstructed, 
would be admitted into Congress. He seemed to be utterly 
amazed at the audacity of such a declaration, and informed 
me in the most imperious and insolent manner that every 
State would be restored to the Union and to representation 
in the coming Congress. I told him that he was suffering 
from the common misfortune of power in seldom hearing the 
truth. He exhibited much irritation, and several times walked 
the full length of the Executive Chamber with rapid step, ap- 
parently to get cooling time for his passion. He finally tem- 
pered the discussion by more courteous expression, and we 
went over the whole ground with rugged frankness on both 
sides, ending in the disagreement on which we had started. 

I then asked him what he proposed to do with Jefferson 
Davis, who was still in prison at Fortress Monroe, charged 
with complicity in the assassination of Lincoln. I saw that 
he was much embarrassed by the inquiry, and told him that 
he owed it to the truth of history, to Davis himself and to 
public justice to give him a fair trial. I reminded him also 
that Wurz, who had just been tried by a court-martial for 
wanton and murderous brutality to the Union prisoners, 
with the judgment in the case then in the hands of the Gov- 
ernment, but not announced, would be condemned and ex- 
ecuted, as he was poor and friendless. I said that if Wurz 
was guilty of studied brutality to prisoners he deserved to 
die, but that if he was simply executing the policy of the 
government of the Confederacy, as was then publicly 
charged, of deliberately and systematically murdering Union 
prisoners by giving them unwholesome or insufficient food, 
and withholding the necessary and possible attention to the 
sick and dying, the responsible criminal was Jefferson Davis. 
In answer, the President asked how that could be done, to 

206 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

which I responded by saying that a court-martial, consisting 
of Generals Grant, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan and Meade, 
could well be charged with so grave an inquiry, as their 
judgment would be accepted by the country and the world. 
If they condemned Davis, he deserved to be executed. If 
they acquitted him, as I believed they would, he would stand 
acquitted of one of the most colossal crimes ever charged 
against an individual. To my surprise, the President 
answered that there was strong prejudice growing up 
against court-martials. He was quite right in that declara- 
tion, as up to that time he had used them freely and almost 
wholly in the administration of justice in all cases having any 
connection with the war. He had denounced Davis as an 
assassin, and in his new relations with the South, which 
changed his conditions materially, he was anxious to protect 
Davis, and evidently did not wish his accusations to be 
passed upon by a competent court. 

I then said to the President that it was his duty to dis- 
charge Davis ; that Davis should either be tried or given his 
liberty at an early day, as he had already been long in prison, 
and I reminded him also that he could not try a man for 
treason who was President of a government that had be- 
leaguered our Capitol for four years, and that had been 
recognized by our own Government and by the leading gov- 
ernments of the world as a belligerent power. The discus- 
sion of the Davis question, that was a very unpleasant one 
to the President, brought the conference to a finish, and 
every prediction that I made to him about his reconstruction 
policy was fulfilled to the letter. Curtin took only an inci- 
dental part in the conference, and we parted with ceremonial 
courtesy, never to meet again. 

While the Republicans had been seriously divided by John- 
son's defection, chiefly because of the large patronage he 
had to dispense, their columns became gradually reunited, 
and in 1868 it was practically a solid Republican party 
arrayed against Johnson with a very few deserters; and 
the Democrats, while appreciating Johnson's betrayal of 
the Republicans, had no love and little respect for the be- 
trayer. From the time that Grant's candidacy was announced 
no other aspirant was seriously discussed in Republican cir- 
cles, and his name brought not only most of the later strag- 
glers of the party into the fold, but commanded the support 
of a large Democratic element in addition. 

207 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

The Republican National Convention met at Chicago on 
the 20th of May, and easily finished its work in two days. 
Carl Schurz was temporary president, and General Joseph 
R. Hawley, of Connecticut, was the permanent president. 
The usual preliminaries were disposed of without jar dur- 
ing the first day, and the committee on resolutions reported 
promptly on the morning of the second day. The following 
is the full text of the platform as adopted by a unanimous 
vote: 



The National Republican party of the United States, assembled 
in national convention in the city of Chicago, on the 21st day of 
May, 1868, make the following declaration of principles : 

1. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the re- 
construction policy of Congress, as evinced by the adoption, in the 
majority of the States lately in rebellion, of constitutions securing 
equal civil and political rights to all ; and it is the duty of the Gov- 
ernment to sustain those institutions and to prevent the people of 
such States from being remitted to a state of anarchy. 

2. The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men 
at the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, 
of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained; while the 
question of suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the 
people of those States. 

3. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime; 
and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebt- 
edness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and 
abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit of the laws 
under which it was contracted. 

4. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be 
equalized, and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will permit. 

5. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preserva- 
tion of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a 
fair period for redemption ; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce 
the rate of interest thereon, whenever it can be honestly done. 

6. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is so to 
improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at 
lower rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay, 
so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threat- 
ened or suspected. 

7. The Government of the United States should be administered 
with the strictest economy; and the corruptions which have been 
so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call loudly 
for radical reform. 

8. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of 
Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession to the Presidency of 
Andrew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people who 
elected him and the cause he was pledged to support; who has 
usurped high legislative and judicial functions; who has refused to 
execute the laws; who has used his high office to induce other 
officers to ignore and violate the laws ; who has employed his execu- 

208 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

tive powers to render insecure the property, the peace, the liberty 
and life of the citizen; who has abused the pardoning power; who 
has denounced the national Legislature as unconstitutional ; who has 
persistently and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, 
every proper attempt at the reconstruction of the States lately in 
rebellion ; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine of 
wholesale corruption; and who has been justly impeached for high 
crimes and misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty thereof 
by the vote of thirty-five Senators. 

9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, 
that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must be 
resisted at every hazard by the United States as a relic of feudal 
times, not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our 
national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled 
to protection in all their rights of citizenship, as though they were 
native born; and no citizen of the United States, native or natural- 
ized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign 
power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and, if so 
arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the Government to inter- 
fere in his behalf. 

10. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there 
were none entitled to more special honor than the brave soldiers 
and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise 
and imperilled their lives in the service of the country ; the bounties 
and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the 
nation are obligations never to be forgotten ; the widows and 
orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the people — a sacred 
legacy bequeathed to the nation's protecting care. 

11. Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much 
to the wealth, development, and resources, and increase of power 
to this Republic — the asylum of the oppressed of all nations — 
should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 

12. This convention declares itself in sympathy with all oppressed 
peoples struggling for their rights. 

13. We highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and forbear- 
ance with which men who have served in the Rebellion, but who 
now frankly and honestly co-operate with us in restoring the peace 
of the country and reconstructing the Southern State governments 
upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, are received 
back into the communion of the loyal people ; and we favor the 
removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed upon the 
late rebels in the same measure as the spirit of disloyalty will die 
out, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people. 

14. We recognize the great principles laid down in the immortal 
Declaration of Independence as the true foundation of Democratic 
government; and we hail with gladness every effort toward making 
these principles a living reality on every inch of American soil. 

The convention then proceeded to make nominations, and 
after an able and impassioned speech by General Logan pre- 
senting General Grant's' name, the roll was called and every 
vote responded in favor of Grant, giving 650 in all. As soon 

209 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



as the vote was announced, a curtain on the rear of the stage 
was lifted, presenting a heroic picture of Grant, and the con- 
vention responded to the nomination and the picture of the 
Great Captain with deafening cheers. 

There was a spirited contest for the Vice-Presidency. 
Wade, of Ohio, had the lead, and Fenton, of New York, Wil- 
son, of Massachusetts, and Colfax, of Indiana, all started with 
a very promising vote. I was chairman of the Pennsylvania 
delegation, and in obedience to the unanimous instructions 
of the State, presented to the convention the name of Andrew 
G. Curtin for second place on the ticket. It soon became 
evident that the contest would be between Wade and Colfax, 
and when the struggle was thus narrowed Colfax won an 
easy victory. The following table presents the several bal- 
lots for Vice-President : 





First. 


Second 


Third. 


Fourth 


Fifth. 


Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio 


147 


170 


178 


206 


38 


Reuben E. Fenton, of New York . . 


126 


144 


139 


144 


69 


Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts. . 


119 


114 


101 


87 


— 


Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana 


115 


145 


165 


186 


541 


Andrew G. Curtin, of Penn 


51 


45 


40 


— 


— 


Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine 


28 


30 


25 


25 


— 


James Speed, of Kentucky 


22 


— 


— 


— 


• — 


James Harlan, of Iowa 


16 
14 


— 


— 


— 





John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland.. 


— 


Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas. . . 


6 


— 


— 


— 


— 


William D. Kelley, of Penn 


4 


— 


— 


— 


— 



The swift mutations in American politics were strangely 
illustrated in the nomination for Vice-President at that con- 
vention. Senator Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, who was 
about closing a term of eighteen years in the service of the 
Senate, who was then President pro tern, of that body, and 
who was expected to reach the Presidency for a period of 
eight months by the impeachment and dismissal of President 
Johnson, was the prominent candidate for Vice-President 
before the meeting of the convention. It was generally be- 
lieved that Johnson would be successfully impeached; that 
Wade would become President for the remainder of the term, 
with illimitable patronage, and that his nomination for the 
Vice-Presidency was apparently assured. But when many 
delegates were on their way to Chicago on Saturday, the 

2IO 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

1 6th, the trained lightning sped the message westward that 
Johnson had been acquitted by a single vote in the Senate, 
and that ended Wade's candidacy. He had many friends in- 
dependent of the prospective power that had made him for- 
midable, and they made a stubborn battle for him, but though 
he was highest of all on the ist ballot, on the 5th and final 
vote he had but 38 votes to 541 for Schuyler Colfax and 69 
for Senator Fenton, of New York. Thus two crushing dis- 
asters had befallen Wade in a single week. He had the Pres- 
idency apparently within his grasp — and this would have 
carried the Vice-Presidency for another term — but he was 
smitten in both efforts, and these crowning disasters closely 
followed his defeat for re-election to the Senate. He was 
the sturdy, bluff, uncompromising patriot of the Senate dur- 
ing the war, and after these three disasters came upon him 
in quick succession, the old man groped his way along for a 
few years in solitude and then slept the dreamless sleep of 
the dead. 

The Democratic National Convention met in New York 
on the 4th of July, and there was a strong sentiment among 
the delegates favorable to the nomination of a liberal Repub- 
lican for President. The Republicans had nominated a 
Democrat, and Chief Justice Chase, who was an old-time 
Democrat, and who had won a very large measure of Demo- 
cratic confidence by his rulings in the impeachment case of 
President Johnson, was a favorite with a very powerful 
circle of friends, who had quietly, but very thoroughly, as 
they believed, organized to have him nominated by a spon- 
taneous tidal wave after a protracted deadlock between the 
leading candidates. I have every reason to believe that 
Chase would have been nominated at the time Seymour was 
chosen, and in like manner, had it not been for the carefully 
laid plan of Samuel J. Tilden to prevent the success of Chase. 
Horatio Seymour, the ablest Democrat of that day, was 
president of the convention, and he had no more idea of be- 
ing nominated for President than he had of becoming the 
Czar of Russia. It was generally supposed that Seymour 
left the chair of the convention because some votes had been 
cast for him for President, but he really left the chair be- 
cause he expected to aid in the nomination of Chase, and 
when Seymour called another to preside, the Tilden strategy 
completed its purpose by an able Democrat demanding the 
nomination of Horatio Seymour, and delivering a most elo- 

211 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

quent and impressive eulogy upon the confessed leader of the 
Democracy. In vain did Seymour give a peremptory decli- 
nation. The convention had been organized for its work, 
and men in nearly every delegation who had been assigned 
to their task rose and swelled the hurrah for Seymour. 
When he found the tide was likely to be overwhelming, he 
declared with equal earnestness and pathos, " Your candi- 
date I cannot be ;" but the wave sped on and Seymour was 
made the candidate by a practically unanimous vote. 

He was prevailed upon to consider the subject, and that 
meant, of course, that he could not decline. There had been 
twenty-one ballots before the nomination of Seymour, in 
which Pendleton, Hancock, and Hendricks were the leading 
competitors. It was then that the nomination of Chase was 
expected to be made just as the nomination of Seymour was 
made, and Tilden's was the master hand that shaped the ac- 
tion of the conventon. 

Tilden was a master leader, as subtle and sagacious as he 
was able, and he thoroughly organized the plan to nominate 
Seymour, not so much because he desired Seymour as the 
candidate, as because he was implacable in his hostility to 
Chase. It was well known by Chase and his friends that Til- 
den crucified Chase in the Democratic convention of 1868, 
and this act of Tilden's had an impressive sequel eight years 
later, when the election of Tilden hung in the balance in the 
Senate, and when the accomplished daughter of Chase de- 
cided the battle against Tilden. 

The convention met on the 4th of July, which was Satur- 
day, and nothing beyond organization was accomplished 
until Monday. The supporters of Pendleton were altogether 
the most aggressive of all the candidates. They represented 
the " Greenback " issue that had then taken form, and ex- 
hibited considerable popular strength, not only in the Demo- 
cratic party, but to some extent in the Republican party. The 
two-thirds rule was reaffirmed, and on Tuesday the com- 
mittee on platform reported the following resolutions, which 
were unanimously adopted : 

The Democratic party, in national convention assembled, repos- 
ing its trust in the intelligence, patriotism, and discriminating justice 
of the people, standing upon the Constitution as the foundation and 
limitation of the powers of the Government and the guarantee of 
the liberties of the citizen, and recognizing the questions of slavery 
and secession as having been settled, for all time to come, by the 

212 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

war, or the voluntary action of the Southern States in constitutional 
conventions assembled, and never to be renewed or reagitated, do, 
with the return of peace, demand : 

i. Immediate restoration of all the States to their rights in the 
Union under the Constitution, and of civil government to the Ameri- 
can people. 

2. Amnesty for all past political offences, and the regulation of 
the elective franchise in the States by their citizens. 

3. Payment of the public debt of the United States as rapidly as 
practicable; all moneys drawn from the people by taxation, except 
so much as is requisite for the necessities of the Government, eco- 
nomically administered, being honestly applied to such payment, 
and where the obligations of the Government do not expressly state 
upon their face, or the law under which they were issued does not 
provide that they shall be paid in coin, they ought, in right and 
in justice, to be paid in the lawful money of the United States. 

4. Equal taxation of every species of property according to its 
real value, including Government bonds and other public securities. 

5. One currency for the Government and the people, the laborer 
and the officeholder, the pensioner and the soldier, the producer and 
the bondholder. 

6. Economy in the administration of the Government ; the re- 
duction of the standing army and navy; the abolition of the Freed- 
men's Bureau, and all political instrumentalities designed to secure 
negro supremacy; simplification of the system, and discontinuance 
of inquisitorial modes of assessing and collecting internal revenue, 
so that the burden of taxation may be equalized and lessened ; the 
credit of the Government and the currency made good ; the repeal 
of all enactments for enrolling the State militia into national forces 
in time of peace; and a tariff for revenue upon foreign imports, 
and such equal taxation under the internal revenue laws as will 
afford incidental protection to domestic manufacturers, and as will, 
without impairing the revenue, impose the least burden upon and 
best promote and encourage the great industrial interests of the 
country. 

7. Reform of abuses in the administration, the expulsion of cor- 
rupt men from office, the abrogation of useless offices, the restora- 
tion of rightful authority to, and the independence of, the executive 
and judicial departments of the Government, the subordination of 
the military to the civil power, to the end that the usurpations of 
Congress and the despotism of the sword may cease. 

8. Equal rights and protection for naturalized and native-born 
citizens, at home and abroad ; the assertion of American nationality 
which shall command the respect of foreign powers, and furnish an 
example and encouragement to peoples struggling for national in- 
tegrity, constitutional liberty, and individual rights, and the main- 
tenance of the rights of naturalized citizens against the absolute 
doctrine of immutable allegiance, and the claims of foreign powers 
to punish them for alleged crime committed beyond their juris- 
diction. 

In demanding these measures and reforms, we arraign the Radical 
party for its disregard of right, and the unparalleled oppression and 
tyranny which have marked its career. 

After the most solemn and unanimous pledge of both Houses of 

213 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Congress to prosecute the war exclusively for the maintenance of 
the Government and the preservation of the Union under the Con- 
stitution, it has repeatedly violated that most sacred pledge under 
which alone was rallied that noble volunteer army which carried 
our flag to victory. Instead of restoring the Union, it has, so far as 
in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten States, in the time of 
profound peace, to military despotism and negro supremacy. It has 
nullified there the right of trial by jury; it has abolished the habeas 
corpus, that most sacred writ of liberty; it has overthrown the 
freedom of speech and the press ; it has substituted arbitrary seiz- 
ures and arrests, and military trials and secret star-chamber inqui- 
sitions for the constitutional tribunals ; it has disregarded, in time 
of peace, the right of the people to be free from searches and seiz- 
ures ; it has entered the post and telegraph offices, and even the 
private rooms of individuals, and seized their private papers and 
letters without any specific charge or notice or affidavit, as required 
by the organic law ; it has converted the American Capitol into a 
bastile; it has established a system of spies and official espionage 
to which no constitutional monarchy of Europe would now dare to 
resort; it has abolished the right of appeal, on important consti- 
tutional questions, to the supreme judicial tribunals, and threat- 
ened to curtail or destroy its original jurisdiction, which is irrev- 
ocably vested by the Constitution, while the learned Chief Justice 
has been subjected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because 
he would not prostitute his high office to the support of the false 
and partisan charges preferred against the President. Its corruption 
and extravagance have exceeded anything known in history, and, by 
its frauds and monopolies, it has nearly doubled the burden of the 
debt created by the war. It has stripped the President of his con- 
stitutional power of appointment, even of his own Cabinet. Under 
its repeated assaults the pillars of the Government are rocking on 
their base, and should it succeed in November next and inaugurate 
its President, we will meet, as a subjected and conquered people, 
amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the Con- 
stitution. 

And we do declare and resolve that ever since the people of the 
United States threw off all subjection to the British crown the 
privilege and trust of suffrage have belonged to the several States, 
and have been granted, regulated, and controlled exclusively by the 
political power of each State respectively and that any attempt by 
Congress, on any pretext whatever, to deprive any State of this 
right, or interfere with its exercise, is a flagrant usurpation of power, 
which can find no warrant in the Constitution, and, if sanctioned 
by the people, will subvert our form of government, and can only 
end in a single centralized and consolidated government, in which 
the separate existence of the States will be entirely absorbed, and 
unqualified despotism be established in place of a Federal union of 
coequal States. And that we regard the Reconstruction Acts (so- 
called) of Congress, as such, as usurpations, and unconstitutional, 
revolutionary, and void. 

That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag of our country 
to victory against a most gallant and determined foe, must ever be 
gratefully remembered, and all the guarantees given in their favor 
must be faithfully carried into execution. 

214 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

That the public lands should be distributed as widely as possible 
among the people, and should be disposed of either under the pre- 
emption or homestead lands, or sold in reasonable quantities, and 
to none but actual occupants, at the minimum price established by 
the Government. When grants of the public lands may be allowed, 
necessary for the encouragement of important public improvements, 
the proceeds of the sale of such lands, and not the lands themselves, 
should be so applied. 

That the President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, in 
exercising the powers of his high office in resisting the aggressions 
of Congress upon the constitutional rights of the States and the 
people, is entitled to the gratitude of the whole American people, 
and in behalf of the Democratic party we tender him our thanks 
for his patriotic efforts in that regard. 

Upon this platform the Democratic party appeal to every patriot, 
including all the conservative element and all who desire to sup- 
port the Constitution and restore the Union, forgetting all past dif- 
ferences of opinion, to unite with us in the present great struggle 
for the liberties of the people; and that to all such, to whatever 
party they may have heretofore belonged, we extend the right 
hand of fellowship, and hail all such co-operating with us as friends 
and brethren. 

Resolved, That this convention sympathize cordially with the 
workingmen of the United States in their efforts to protect the rights 
and interests of the laboring classes of the country. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the convention are tendered to Chief 
Justice Salmon P. Chase for the justice, dignity, and impartiality 
with which he presided over the court of impeachment on the trial 
of President Andrew Johnson. 

The ballots for President began on Tuesday and ended 
Thursday. The following table gives the ballots in detail : 



BAL- 
LOTS. 


d 

3 

o 

a 

o 

■*-> 
<D 

Ph 

d 

<u 

O 




<L> 

a 

o 
d 

o 

u 
< 


a 

Ph 

M 

o 
o 
u 

PI 

CO 

2 
"3 
«n 
pi 


> 

,cf 
o 
u 

pi 

O 

m 

U 

o 
PI 

oS 
CO 


pi 
c 

<u 
Ph 

<D 

o 

as 
Ph 

c3 

CO 
< 


u 
<u 
M 
u 
aj 
Ph 

"3 

o 


a 

pi 
o 
O 

V) 

"So 
PI 

w 

B 

a! 


73 

d 

o 
o 

p 

CO 
V 

B 

aS 


pi 

1— < 

CO 
^1 

'u 
-a 
pi 

CD 

ffl 

< 

CO 
O 
A 

h 


> 

u 
P 

o 

s 

►»■ 
<u 
CO 

_o 

a) 

u 
o 

w 


d 
.if 

3 

Ph' 
to 

'o 

PI 
as 
u 

fa 


o 

CO 
PI 

o 
•—1 

Jh 

0) 

> 

Ph 


bo 
a 

'u 

O) 

H-> 
+-> 
aJ 
o 

CO 


1 

2 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 


105 

104 

119$* 

118^ 

122 

122^ 

137H 

156^ 

144 


65 

52 

34^ 

32 

24 

21 

™M 
6 
5V a 


33^ 

40^ 

45^ 

43^ 

46 

47 

42^ 

28 

24^ 


33 
33 
33 
33 
33 
33 


26 
26 
26 
26 
27 
27 


13 

15^ 

13 

13 

13 

13 

7 

7 

7 


16 

% 

7 

6 

6 

6 

6 


13 

12 
8 
15 
12 
12 
12 
12 


2^ 

2 

9^ 

im 

30 
39^ 
75 
80^ 


9 


10^ 
4^ 
2 

9^ 
5 

H 


8 
11 
16 


10>6 

1 
1 
1 



215 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



BAL- 
LOTS. 



10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19, 
30. 
21. 
22. 







c 








o 


. 


c 


t* 






fl 




Pi 








O 






A 






n 
o 
*j 

o 

53 

a 




B 

o 

C 
X3 

c 
•— > 


o 

o 

CJ 

e 

C3 
X 
CQ 


o 
u 

o 


O 

c 

a. 

u 
o 




K 


IB 

i-c 


2 


■a 

Ih 

o 




u 


c 
o 


13 




C6 
CO 


c3 
< 


o 


147^ 


6 


34 






7 


144^ 


5^ 


32V£ 


— 


— 


7 


145^ 


4V6 


30 


— 


— 


7 


134^, 


4^ 


4«V£ 


— 


— 


< 


130 




56 


— 


— 


i 


129^ 


5V6 


79V£ 


— 


— 


7 


107V* 


5^ 


113^ 


— 


— 


1 


70V4 


6 


137V6 


— 


— 


7 


56^ 


10 


144^ 


— 


— 


31H 




— 


135 V£ 


— 


— 


22 


— 


— 


142^ - 


— 


— 


— 


— 


135^ - 


— 


— 


— 


4 


90^ 


— 


— 


— 



be 
c 
H 





3 
O 

s 


© 


>, 


X 


CO 


< 


o 




+J 


05 


«s 


o 


Ih 


JG 


O 


H 


ffi 



— 


13 


— 


13 


— 


12 


— 


12 


— 


12 


— 


12 


6 


4 


16 


12 


19 


12 


1 


4 



12 82^ 
12^ 88 
12V£ 89 
81 

mi 
8m 

70^ 
80 
87 

107^ 
121 
132 
140^ 



- 



fc 



H 



13^ 
13 



^ 



1^ 



3^ 

3V* 

5 

9 

5 



Before the 22d ballot was announced delegations began to change their votes 
to Seymour, and the changes were continued amid great enthusiam until he 
received the unanimous nomination. The twenty-one votes given him on the 
last ballot were all cast by Ohio delegates. 

It was charged that the nomination of Seymour had been 
carefully planned by his friends before the meeting of the 
convention, in imitation of the nominations of Polk and 
Pierce, but in point of fact the nomination of Seymour was 
not planned by his friends nor had they any idea of nominat- 
ing him when the convention met, as his name was not 
before the convention at all until the 226. ballot and the 
third day of balloting. He was most earnestly averse to 
accepting the nomination. His health was impaired, he had 
had many and very earnest political conflicts, and he felt 
himself physically and mentally unequal to the exacting 
duties of a campaign. His nomination was, as I have stated, 
conceived and executed for the purpose of defeating Chase. 

Having failed to nominate a Republican for President, 
the convention unanimously nominated General Frank P. 
Blair, of Missouri, for Vice-President without the formality 
of a ballot. He was one of the most radical and aggressive 
of Republicans when the Republican party was organized in 
1856, and brought the first important victory to that party 
when, in the early fall of 1856, he was elected to Congress 

216 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

from St. Louis, being the first Republican who ever repre- 
sented a Southern State in the national Legislature. I 
remember meeting him in Washington just before the clash 
of arms began, after the bombardment of Sumter. He was 
impatient with Lincoln for not precipitating the war, and 
told me that he would go back to Missouri the next day, 
and that the country would soon hear of battles fought in 
that State. He executed his purpose, for it was through 
him chiefly or wholly that the early and bloody battles of 
Missouri were fought. He was one of the most brilliant 
of the corps commanders of the army, but had evidently 
fallen into disfavor with Grant, and Blair was as tireless 
a fighter as Grant himself. In a public letter, directed to 
J. C. Broadhead a short time before the convention met, 
General Blair denounced Grant as aiming at imperialism, 
and declared that his election to the Presidency would date 
the downfall of our Republican institutions. 

General Blair spoke frequently during the contest, but 
his speeches were so violent that they gave offence to many 
conservative Democrats ; and after the October elections, 
which were disastrous to the Democrats, the New York 
World, the leading Democratic organ, came out in a 
leader demanding that he be retired from the ticket; 
but Blair was not the man to retreat under fire. Seymour 
took the stump, to present the party in a more conservative 
attitude, and delivered a number of speeches, which rank 
among the ablest popular addresses of American politics; 
but he could not halt the tidal wave that swept Grant into 
the Presidency. The following table gives the electoral and 
popular vote : 



STATES. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts . . 
Rhode Island. . . 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania. . . 



Popular Vote. 



Grant. 



70,426 

38,191 
44,167 

136,477 
12,993 
50,641 

419,883 
80,121 

342,280 



Seymour. 



42,396 
31,224 
12,045 
59,408 
6,548 
47,600 

429,883 
83,001 

313,382 



Electoral Vote. 



7 
5 
5 
12 
4 
6 



26 



Grant . Seymour. 



33 

7 



217 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



STATES. 



Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia* 

West Virginia . . 
North Carolina. 
South Carolina . 

Georgia 

Floridaf 

Alabama 

Mississippi* .... 

Louisiana 

Texas* 

Arkansas 

Missouri 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Nebraska 

Kansas 

Nevada 

California 

Oregon 



Totals. 



Popular Vote. 



Grant. 



7,623 
30,438 

29,025 
96,226 
62,301 
57,134 

76,366 

33,263 

22,152 

85,671 

56,757 

39,566 

280,128 

128,550 

176,552 

250,293 

108,857 

43,542 

120,399 

9,729 

31,049 

6,480 

54,592 

10,961 



3,012,833 



Seymour. 



10,980 
62,357 



20,306 
84,090 
45,237 

102,822 



72,086 



80,225 



19,078 

59,788 

26,311 

115,889 

238,700 

97,069 

166,980 

199,143 

84,710 

28,072 

74,040 

5,439 

14,019 

5,218 

54,078 

11,125 



2,703,249 



Electoral Vote. 



Grant. 



5 
11 
10 

21 
8 

13 
16 



214 



Seymour. 



11 



80 



* Did not vote. 



t Chosen by Legislature. 



There was dispute as to the right of some of the Southern 
States to participate in the election. It will be seen that 
West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and 
Kentucky had all participated in the election. Fortunately, 
the disputed States did not in any way affect the result, and 
Congress passed a joint resolution declaring that none of 
the rebellious States should be entitled to electoral votes, 
unless at the time of the election they had adopted Constitu- 
tions since the 4th of March, 1867, and had an organized 
State Government, and unless such States had representation 

218 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

in Congress under the Reconstruction laws. Of course, 
President Johnson vetoed the measure, but it was promptly 
passed over the veto by both branches of Congress, and 
became a law. By that resolution, Virginia, Mississippi, and 
Texas were absolutely excluded from the election. 

The other Southern States had representation in Congress, 
with the exception of Georgia. The question whether 
Georgia should be permitted to have her vote counted re- 
sulted in a very serious dispute, on which the Senate and 
the House divided, but Mr. Wade, President of the Senate, 
in declaring the result, counted the vote of Georgia and 
precipitated a very disgraceful scene, in which General 
Butler most offensively assailed the presiding officer. There 
was no question whatever as to the election of Grant and 
Colfax, and Congress duly declared them President and 
Vice-President of the United States. 

The contest of 1868 crystallized the " Greenback " senti- 
ment of the country under the leadership of George H. 
Pendleton, who was the nominee for Vice-President with 
McClellan in 1864, and who expected to capture the Demo- 
cratic National Convention of 1868, to nominate himself for 
President on the Greenback platform. The Pendleton 
followers were the hustlers of that convention, and they 
were all decorated with a badge that was an imitation of 
the greenback. Gold had been at a high premium during 
the war, and was at a considerable premium in 1868, with 
resumption apparently very far off. The cheap-money idea 
had been industriously impressed upon the people by the 
demagogues of that day, and as many of the obligations 
of the United States were payable only in lawful money, 
while the bonds issued during the war were payable in coin, 
it was easy to make plausible appeal to the prejudices of the 
industrial classes, who were paying very high prices for 
all the necessaries of life. 

This theory had been very widely discussed by the various 
shades of opposition to the Republicans, but the Pendleton 
movement for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency 
dignified it as a national issue, and it succeeded in making 
the New York Democratic platform go more than half way 
in favor of repudiation of our obligations by payment in 
greenbacks. The greenback issue thus vitalized became 
a very important one in many of the States and caused 
strange political revolutions, such as the election of Demo- 

219 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

cratic Governors and Democratic Legislatures in Maine and 
Ohio. 

It is doubtful whether the Republicans could have been 
lined up squarely in the support of the national credit with 
any other candidate than Grant, and one of the first acts that 
he signed as President distinctly provided for the payment in 
coin of all bonds of the Government bearing interest, and 
declared also that specie payments should be resumed as 
speedily as practicable. The Greenback party not only 
figured largely in State politics, but became formidable as 
a third party in national contests, and the free-silver theory 
of to-day is simply the old greenback issue of cheap money 
in another form. 



THE GRANT-GREELEY CONTEST 

1872 

General Grant was a thorough soldier, with little quali- 
fication for civil duties and a natural distaste for politics. I 
doubt whether he had any defined political policy when he 
entered the Presidency. He believed in maintaining the 
credit of the Government, and accepted in a conservative 
way the general policy of the Republican party, but he knew 
little or nothing of the political leadership of the nation, and 
his friends generally felt that the success of his administra- 
tion would depend very largely upon surrounding him with 
a Cabinet composed of the ablest and most sagacious men 
of the party, but Grant cherished no such ideas himself. 
He evidently assumed that politics could be run by general 
orders, as an army could be commanded, and it was that 
mistake that alienated a very large portion of the Repub- 
licans from him in the early period of his administration, 
and culminated in the Liberal Republican Convention at 
Cincinnati in 1872. 

I had frequently met General Grant before his nomination 
and election to the Presidency, but only in the most casual 
way on social occasions, and never had any conversation 
with him, either on politics generally or on his candidacy 
for the Presidency. I was earnestly in favor of his nomina- 
tion and election, because I believed that calling him to the 
Presidency would do more to reconcile the South and give 
better assurance of sectional tranquillity than the election of 
any of the leading Republican statesmen of that day. I had 
just changed my residence to Philadelphia, having suffered 
serious financial disaster in the burning of Chambersburg 
by McCausland, and it was my settled purpose after Grant's 
election to cease active participation in politics and devote 
my efforts wholly to my profession. 

My first and only meeting with Grant before his retire- 

221 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

ment from the Presidency, at which we had any protracted 
conversation, was a short time before his inauguration. 
Chief Justice Read, of Pennsylvania, handed me a letter, 
addressed to the President-elect, and asked me to deliver it 
in person when I next visited Washington. I did not know 
its contents, but inferred that it related to the appointment 
of Curtin to a Cabinet office. A few days thereafter when 
in Washington I called upon General Grant at his head- 
quarters and delivered the letter, and after a very brief 
conversation, rose to take my leave. He had opened the 
letter in the meantime, and as I reached the door he called 
me back, saying that Judge Read's letter strongly urged 
the appointment of Curtin to the Cabinet, and that he desired 
to tell me frankly as a close friend of Curtin why he could 
not meet the wishes of the many friends of Curtin by giving 
him a Cabinet portfolio. He spoke very highly of Curtin, 
and showed his appreciation of Curtin's position by nominat- 
ing him as* Minister to Russia at an early day after his 
inauguration, and against the protest of Senator Cameron. 
In the course of the conversation I saw Grant's crude theory 
of conducting a national administration. He said that his 
Cabinet officers would be his official confidential family, and 
he desired to appoint them entirely in accordance with his 
personal preferences. I said to him that it was certainly 
his right to have only men in his Cabinet who were entirely 
agreeable to himself, but that it was very important for him 
to have the ablest politicians of the country largely repre- 
sented in it, to save his administration from the many 
political complications which would otherwise confront him. 
I saw that Grant was not a willing listener to any sugges- 
tions, although given in the most courteous manner, and he 
answered with a somewhat liberal display of what some 
called " obstinacy " and others called " determination," as 
one of the leading attributes of his character. I then spoke 
more freely and frankly, and finally said to him that if I 
were suddenly called to the command of the army, with 
little or no military experience, I would feel that my greatest 
need was generals ; and I added that it was in no measure 
disrespectful to him to say that, having been called from 
the command of the army to the Presidency of the Republic, 
without experience in high civil duties, his greatest need 
was statesmen. The advice was not grateful to Grant; on 
the contrary, he was obviously fretted, as none of the many 

222 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

who sought favors at his hands had ventured to tell him the 
truth so plainly. When the conversation ended he gave me 
a moderately cordial good-by, and I never again met him, 
excepting once at the large banquet given by Mr. Childs 
on the evening after the opening of the Philadelphia Cen- 
tennial in 1876, until soon after he had retired from his 
eight years' service in the Presidency, and never had any 
communication with him. 

I opposed his renomination, participated in the Liberal 
Republican Convention that nominated Greeley, had charge 
of the Greeley campaign in Pennsylvania, and labored very 
earnestly for Grant's defeat in 1872. On the day that he 
retired from the Presidency I had an editorial in the Phila- 
delphia Times, speaking of General Grant as history would 
record his achievements, and of necessity highly compli- 
mentary to him. A few days thereafter I met him with 
Mr. Childs at the Continental Hotel, and he came forward 
in a manner that was unusually demonstrative for Grant, 
and was profuse in his thanks for the editorial referred to. 
He said that he specially valued it because it came from 
one who had been among his severest critics during his 
Presidential term, and he ended by inviting me to lunch with 
him at Mr. Drexel's office that afternoon. 

I willingly accepted the invitation and spent two hours 
with Grant, most of the time alone after Mr. Drexel and 
Mr. Childs had left us. I was surprised to find him one of 
the most agreeable of conversationalists, and he discussed 
politics generally and the Hayes-Tilden contest with a degree 
of frankness and intelligence that surprised me. He said 
that he confidently expected the Electoral Commission to 
give the vote of Louisiana to Mr. Tilden, but that as Chief 
Magistrate it was his duty only to maintain the law, and that 
when the law of the nation made the Electoral Commission 
a final tribunal for the settlement of the dispute, he would 
have maintained that judgment with all the power of the 
Government. 

I was specially gratified at this interview to have a par- 
ticular prejudice that I had cherished against Grant since 
1864 entirely dissipated by a conversation into which I 
cautiously led him on the Lincoln-McClellan campaign of 
1864. I have stated in another chapter that Mr. Lincoln 
hesitated in October, 1864, to send an order to General 
Grant to furlough five thousand of his Pennsylvania soldiers 

223 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

home to vote for President, and sent it to Meade. I had 
known how Lincoln had sustained Grant after the battle 
of Shiloh, when Grant had few friends and none outside of 
Lincoln able to sustain him. When Lincoln hesitated to 
send the order to Grant, I spoke very freely and reminded 
Lincoln how he had saved Grant, and wanted to know why 
he could not now trust the man who would have been 
overwhelmed but for the generous and heroic offices of 
Lincoln. Lincoln finally answered that he had never received 
or heard of any expression from General Grant expressing 
a preference for his election over General McClellan. Lin- 
coln certainly at that time doubted Grant's attitude in that 
contest, and having been one of the many who had urged 
Lincoln to remove Grant from his command after Shiloh, 
I could not fail to cherish some prejudice against Grant as 
wanting in fidelity to Lincoln. 

In our general discussion of politics I remarked that he 
had very studiously avoided all political expression during 
the war, and that I had specially noted his silence during 
the campaign of 1864 between Lincoln and McClellan. His 
answer was prompt and given evidently in the frankest 
manner, as he said substantially : " Of course, I could not 
with propriety give any public expression in a political 
contest where one candidate had given me the highest com- 
mission in the army and the other candidate had been my 
predecessor in command of the army." The answer was 
given in such simple earnestness that I never thereafter 
doubted Grant's fidelity to Lincoln, although Lincoln cer- 
tainly was disappointed that Grant gave no expression 
during the campaign. On the night of Lincoln's election 
Grant sent him a very hearty telegram of congratulation. 

President Grant drifted into a political control that ulti- 
mately made his administration intensely sectional and fac- 
tional, and during his first administration he was intolerant 
of criticism, and often openly disregarded Republican senti- 
ment in sustaining many of his favorites, who brought 
scandals upon his rule. On great questions, however, Grant 
certainly was great. He conceived the idea of territorial 
expansion that has been so successfully carried out by the 
present administration with the hearty approval .of an over- 
whelming majority' of the people. He made an earnest 
movement for the annexation of San Domingo, and he gave 
exhaustive public and private efforts to attain it. This 

224 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

policy was severely criticised by some of the leading members 
of the party, prominent among whom were Sumner and 
Greeley, and the San Domingo scheme was ridiculed from 
one end of the country to the other as a wild, visionary, 
political enterprise, designed to give place and fortune to 
administration favorites. 

So bitter did the Republican national feud become that 
the anti-administration leaders decided to take the initiative 
in opposing Grant's re-election. At no time in the history 
of any administration was the political machinery of the 
Government so complete and despotic as it was under Grant, 
although not in any degree personally directed by himself, 
and it was well known that the opposition would have little 
voice in the regular Republican convention, and that it was 
entirely powerless to prevent Grant being presented as the 
Republican nominee. 

The first national conventions of the year were held at 
Columbus, O., in February. The Labor Reformers were 
first in the field, as their convention was held at Columbus 
on the 2 ist of February, with Edward M. Chamberlain, 
of Massachusetts, as President. This convention was made 
up largely or wholly of men who believed in the greenback 
policy, as it demanded an indefinite issue of greenbacks, 
which would be a legal tender for the payment of all public 
and private debts. The following is the full text of its 
platform : 

We hold that all political power is inherent in the people, and 
free government is founded on their authority and established for 
their benefit; that all citizens are equal in political rights, entitled 
to the largest religious and political liberty compatible with the 
good order of society, as also to the use and enjoyment of the fruits 
of their labor and talents; and no man or set of men is entitled to 
exclusive separable endowments and privileges, or immunities from 
the Government, but in consideration of public services ; and any 
laws destructive of these fundamental principles are without moral 
binding force, and should be repealed. And believing that all the 
evils resulting from unjust legislation now affecting the industrial 
classes can be removed by the adoption of the principles contained 
in the following declaration, therefore, 

Resolved, That it is the duty of the Government to establish a 
just standard of distribution of capital and labor by providing a 
purely national circulating medium, based on the faith and re- 
sources of the nation, issued directly to the people without the 
intervention of any system of banking corporations ; which money 
shall be legal tender in the payment of all debts, public and private, 
and interchangeable at the option of the holder for Government 

225 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

bonds bearing a rate of interest not to exceed 3.65 per cent., subject 
to future legislation by Congress. 

2. That the national debt should be paid in good faith, according 
to the original contract, at the earliest option of the Government, 
without mortgaging the property of the people or the future earn- 
ings of labor, to enrich a few capitalists at home and abroad. 

3. That justice demands that the burdens of Government should 
be so adjusted as to bear equally on all classes, and that the exemp- 
tion from taxation of Government bonds bearing extortionate rates 
of interest is a violation of all just principles of revenue laws. 

4. That the public lands of the United States belong to the people 
and should not be sold to individuals nor granted to corporations, 
but should be held as a sacred trust for the benefit of the people, 
and should be granted to landless settlers only, in amounts not ex- 
ceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land. 

5. That Congress should modify the tariff so as to admit free such 
articles of common use as we can neither produce nor grow, and 
lay duties for revenue mainly upon articles of luxury and upon 
such articles of manufacture as will, we having the raw materials 
in abundance, assist in further developing the resources of the 
country. 

6. That the presence in our country of Chinese laborers, im- 
ported by capitalists in large numbers for servile use, is an evil, 
entailing want and its attendant train of misery and crime/ on all 
classes of the American people, and should be prohibited by 
legislation. 

7. That we ask for the enactment of a law by which all me- 
chanics and day-laborers employed by or on behalf of the Govern- 
ment, whether directly or indirectly, through persons, firms, or 
corporations, contracting with the State, shall conform to the re- 
duced standard of eight hours a day, recently adopted by Congress 
for national employes, and also for an amendment to the acts of 
incorporation for cities and towns, by which all laborers and 
mechanics employed at their expense shall conform to the same 
number of hours. 

8. That the enlightened spirit of the age demands the abolition 
of the system of contract labor in our prisons and other reformatory 
institutions. 

9. That the protection of life, liberty, and property are the three 
cardinal principles of government, and the first two are more 
sacred than the latter ; therefore money needed for prosecuting 
wars should, as it is required, be assessed and collected from the 
wealth of the country, and not entailed as a burden upon posterity. 

10. That it is the duty of the Government to exercise its power 
over railroads and telegraph corporations, that they shall not in any 
case be privileged to exact such rates of freight, transportation, or 
charges, by whatever name, as may bear unduly or unequally upon 
the producer or consumer. 

11. That there should be such a reform in the civil service of the 
national Government as will remove it beyond all partisan influ- 
ence, and place it in the charge and under the direction of intelli- 
gent and competent business men. 

12. That as both history and experience teach us that power 
ever seeks to perpetuate itself by every and all means, and that its 

226 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

prolonged possession in the hands of one person is always dan- 
gerous to the interests of a free people, and believing that the spirit 
of our organic laws and the stability and safety of our free in- 
stitutions are best obeyed on the one hand and secured on the other 
by a regular constitutional change in the chief of the country at 
each election ; therefore, we are in favor of limiting the oc- 
cupancy of the Presidential chair to one term. 

13. That we are in favor of granting general amnesty and restor- 
ing the Union at once on the basis of equality of rights and priv- 
ileges to all, the impartial administration of justice being the only 
true bond of union to bind the States together and restore the 
government of the people. 

14. That we demand the subjection of the military to the civil 
authorities, and the confinement of its operations to national pur- 
poses alone. 

15. That we deem it expedient for Congress to supervise the patent 
laws, so as to give labor more fully the benefit of its own ideas and 
inventions. 

16. That fitness, and not political or personal considerations, 
should be the only recommendation to public office, either appointive 
or elective, and any and all laws looking to the establishment of 
this principle are heartily approved. 

Four ballots were had to nominate a candidate for Presi- 
dent, resulting in the choice of David Davis, of Illinois. 
The following table exhibits the ballots in detail : 





First. 


Second. 


Third. 


Fourth. 


John W. Geary, of Pennsylvania. . 

Horace H. Day, of New York 

David Davis, of Illinois 


60 
59 
47 
13 

8 

iy 
1 

6 


21 

88 
76 

7 
1 


59 
93 
12 

7 
5 

14 
11 


3 

201 


Wendell Phillips, of Massachusetts 
J. M. Palmer, of Illinois 




Joel Parker, of New Jersey 

George W. Julian, of Indiana 

B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri 

Horace Greeley, of New York. . . . 


7 



Two ballots were had for Vice-President, as follows : 





First. 


Second. 


E. M. Chamberlain, Massachusetts. . . . 
Joel Parker, New Jersey 


72 
70 
18 
31 
10 


57 
112 


Allanson M. West, Mississippi 




Thomas Ewinef, Ohio 


22 


W. G. Bryan, Tennessee 










227 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Davis and Parker were unanimously declared the candi- 
dates of the party for President and Vice-President. 

Although Judge Davis had responded by telegraph to 
the notification of his nomination from the convention, 
expressing his gratitude for the honor conferred, he did not 
definitely accept. Had Judge Davis been nominated by the 
Liberal Republicans at Cincinnati in May, he would doubt- 
less have remained as the candidate of the Labor Reformers, 
but in June, when there was no possibility of him being 
a candidate of any other organization, Davis and Parker 
both declined and retired from the contest. A small portion 
of the delegates were reconvened, and Charles O'Conor, 
of Xew York, was nominated for President, without naming 
any candidate for Vice-President. Thus, the Labor Reform 
organization was practically out of the battle of 1872. 

A Prohibition National Convention was also held at Co- 
lumbus on the 226. of February, with representatives from 
nine States, and Samuel Chase, of Ohio, was made perma- 
nent president. An elaborate platform was adopted, but the 
party does not seem to have been of sufficient importance 
to command the publication of its platform in full in the 
newspapers, and it is lost to history, as I have not been able 
to find it. James Black, of Pennsylvania, was nominated 
for President, and John Russell, of Michigan, for Vice- 
President by a unanimous vote, after having been presented 
by a committee on nominations. 

The Liberal Republican National Convention met at 
Cincinnati on the 1st of May. The organized Republican 
opposition to Grant had its origin in the State contest in 
Missouri, where the Democrats and the Liberals united to 
efface a most proscriptive Constitution and laws, denying 
all rights of citizenship to those who had been engaged in 
rebellion. A number of meetings were held in the Western 
cities to organize the Liberal Republican party, and it was 
a mass-meeting of the Liberals of Missouri in Jefferson 
City, in January, 1872, that first decided to call a national 
convention of Liberal Republicans, and fixed Cincinnati and 
the 1st of May as the place and time for it to assemble. 

It seemed evident to all who had intelligently and dis- 
passionately observed the political situation that the majority 
of the people of the country would vote against the re- 
election of Grant if they could be heartily united, but the 
elements were strangely incongruous, as Greeley, Sumner, 

228 






AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Trumbull, and many others of the Liberal leaders had been 
among the most earnest champions of radical Republicanism, 
and had antagonized the Democratic party so fiercely and 
persistently as to make unity between them apparently im- 
possible. It was only the utterly helpless condition of the 
Democrats that made them entertain the question of fusing 
with the Liberals by taking their ticket and platform. 

Strange as it may seem, Mr. Vallandingham, one of the 
most aggressive of all the Northern " Copperheads" during 
the war, and who had been arrested by Burnside and 
banished into the Southern lines, was one of the first of the 
leading Democrats to propose a union of all the elements 
opposed to Grant and unite in fully accepting the results 
of the war, the reconstruction policy, and the amendments 
to the Constitution. I attended this convention as a delegate 
and acted as chairman of the delegation. Of the prominent 
men named for the nomination, I greatly preferred David 
Davis, the executor of Abraham Lincoln, and a man so 
conservative and liberal in his political views and so thor- 
oughly identified with the substantial interests of the country 
that he would have provoked no antagonism whatever from 
the financial and business interests of the nation, but Horace 
Greeley was his competitor for the place, and there was no 
man in the country for whom I cherished stronger affection. 
I had known Greeley for many years. 

When the Liberal agitation began, the prominent can- 
didates discussed were Horace Greeley, Charles Francis 
Adams, David Davis, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri. 
Greeley became intensely interested in his own nomination. 
He felt that he had devoted his life to the best efforts for 
his country, and especially for the lowly. He was the 
foremost of all in the great battle for the overthrow of 
slavery, and he craved the recognition of his work by an 
election to the Presidency. Before the convention met he 
made an appointment to meet me at the Colonnade Hotel 
in Philadelphia. He felt that he could speak with entire 
freedom to me, and he opened his heart to the full extent 
of saying how much he desired the nomination and what it 
meant to him. 

Could I have made him President, I would gladly have 
done so, but I knew that he could not be elected, and told 
him so with frankness that he appreciated. He yielded to 
my judgment as to his availability, and accepted the sugges- 

229 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

tion that had then been made generally by the more conserva- 
tive of the Liberal Republicans that David Davis would be 
the only candidate who could certainly defeat Grant. He was 
conservative, able, and clear-headed, and the business inter- 
ests of the country would have had entire confidence in him. 
In answer to my statement that the Democrats certainly 
could not be united in Greeley's favor, and without which 
an election could not be accomplished, he said : " Well, if 
they won't take me head foremost, they might take me boots 
foremost," meaning for Vice-President. I said I did 
not doubt that his nomination for the second place could be 
accomplished with every prospect of success at the election. 
We parted with the distinct understanding that his friends 
should move unitedly to nominate David Davis for President 
and Greeley for Vice-President. 

When we reached Cincinnati a conference of the leading 
friends of Davis and Greeley was held the night before the 
convention met, Senator Fenton being present as the leader 
of the Greeley forces. Leonard Swett, the immediate repre- 
sentative of Davis, was present, along with John D. Defrees, 
of Indiana, and a number of others. The plan of operation 
was agreed upon, and when we adjourned to enjoy a late 
supper we regarded it as settled that Davis and Greeley 
would be nominated on the next day. 

About midnight it was whispered that General Frank P. 
Blair, as the representative of B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, 
and others had held a secret conference to unite the Greeley 
and Brown forces to make Greeley the candidate for Presi- 
dent and Brown second on the ticket. We soon discovered 
that the movement had been thoroughly organized, and 
many Greeley men who were much more zealous than 
discreet at once accepted the new situation, and forced even 
Fenton to fall back to the support of Greeley. Fenton was 
one of Greeley's most sincere and devoted friends, and it 
was with great reluctance that he joined in the effort to 
nominate Greeley when he felt that it could result only in 
crucifying him. The withdrawal of the Greeley men from 
the Davis-Greeley combination left Davis a hopeless candi- 
date, as the convention was largely radical and little inclined 
to consider questions of expediency. 

The Liberal Republican National Convention was simply 
a huge mass-meeting, with nearly all of the States of the 
Union represented, and it was boiling over with go-as-you- 

230 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

please independence in politics. Stanley Matthews, afterward 
made Supreme Judge, was temporary president, and although 
he denounced the Grant administration in his opening speech 
as a monument of corruption, he soon thereafter bolted 
Greeley and supported Grant. Carl Schurz was made per- 
manent president. The contest for President was evidently 
narrowed down to Adams and Greeley. I voted on every 
ballot for Adams, with whom I had little sympathy, and 
three-fourths of the Pennsylvania delegation voted with me. 
On the 6th ballot Greeley was nominated by changes of 
votes after the ballot had been announced, but I did not 
change the vote of Pennsylvania until he had received a 
majority of the votes of the convention. The following are 
the ballots for President : 



Charles Francis Adams, Mass. . . 

Horace Greeley, New York 

Lyman Trumbull, Illinois 

B. Gratz Brown, Missouri 

David Davis, Illinois 

Andrew G. Curtin, Pennsylvania 
Salmon P. Chase, Ohio 



First. 


Second 


Third. 


Fourth 


Fifth. 


203 


243 


264 


279 


258 


147 


245 


258 


251 


309 


110 


148 


156 


141 


81 


95 


2 


2 


2 


2 


92^ 
62 
2^ 


75 


41 


51 


30 


1 


— 


— 


24 



Sixth. 

324 
332 

19 

6 
32 



Mr. Greeley's nomination was made unanimous, and the 
convention proceeded to ballot for Vice-President as follows : 



First. 



Second. 



B. Gratz Brown, Missouri. . . . 
Lyman Trumbull, Illinois. . . . 
George W. Julian, Indiana. . . , 
Gilbert C. Walker, Virginia. . . 
Cassius M. Clay, Kentucky. . . 

Jacob D. Cox, Ohio 

John M. Scoville, New Jersey 
Thomas W. Tipton, Nebraska 
John M. Palmer, Illinois 



237 


435 


158 


175 


134^ 


— 


84K 


75 


34 


— 


25 


— 


12 


— 


8 


3 


— 


8 



The following platform was unanimously adopted : 

The administration now in power has rendered itself guilty of 
wanton disregard of the laws of the land, and of usurping powers 
not granted by the Constitution; it has acted as if the laws had 
binding force only for those who were governed, and not for those 



231 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

who govern. It has thus struck a blow at the fundamental prin- 
ciples of constitutional government and the liberties of the citizen. 

The President of the United States has openly used the powers 
and opportunities of his high office for the promotion of personal 
ends. 

He has kept notoriously corrupt and unworthy men in places of 
power and responsibility, to the detriment of the public interest. 

He has used the public service of the Government as a machinery 
of corruption and personal influence, and has interfered with tyran- 
nical arrogance in the political affairs of States and municipalities. 

He has rewarded with influential and lucrative offices men who 
had acquired his favor by valuable presents, thus stimulating the 
demoralization of our political life by his conspicuous example. 

He has shown himself deplorably unequal to the task imposed 
upon him by the necessities of the country, and culpably careless 
of the responsibilities of his high office. 

The partisans of the administration, assuming to be the Repub- 
lican party and controlling its organization, have attempted to justify 
such wrongs and palliate such abuses to the end of maintaining 
partisan ascendancy. 

They have stood in the way of necessary investigations and indis- 
pensable reforms, pretending that no serious fault could be found 
with the present administration of public affairs, thus seeking to 
blind the eyes of the people. 

They have kept alive the passions and resentments of the late 
civil war, to use them for their own advantage ; they have resorted 
to arbitrary measures in direct conflict with the organic law, instead 
of appealing to the better instincts and latent patriotism of the 
Southern people by restoring to them those rights the enjoyment 
of which is indispensable to a successful administration of their 
local affairs, and would tend to revive a patriotic and hopeful 
national feeling. 

They have degraded themselves and the name of their party, 
once justly entitled to the confidence of the nation, by a base syco- 
phancy to the dispenser of executire power and patronage, un- 
worthy of republican freemen ; they have sought to silence the 
voice of just criticism, and stifle the moral sense of the people, and 
to subjugate public opinion by tyrannical party discipline. 

They are striving to maintain themselves in authority for selfish 
ends by an unscrupulous use of the power which rightfully belongs 
to the people, and should be employed only in the service of the 
country. 

Believing that an organization thus led and controlled can no 
longer be of service to the best interests of the Republic, we have 
resolved to make an independent appeal to the sober judgment, 
conscience, and patriotism of the American people. 

We, the Liberal Republicans of the United States, in national 
convention assembled at Cincinnati, proclaim the following prin- 
ciples as essential to just government: 

i. We recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold 
that it is the duty of government, in its dealings with the people, 
to mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, 
race, color, or persuasion, religious or political. 

2. We pledge ourselves to maintain the union of these States. 

232 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

emancipation and enfranchisement, and to oppose any reopening 
of the questions settled by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth 
Amendments of the Constitution. 

3. We demand the immediate and absolute removal of all dis- 
abilities imposed on account of the Rebellion, which was finally 
subdued seven years > ago, believing that universal amnesty will 
result in complete pacification in all sections of the country. 

4. Local self-government, with impartial suffrage, will guard the 
rights of all citizens more securely than any centralized power. 
The public welfare requires the supremacy of the civil over the 
military authority, and the freedom of the person under the protec- 
tion of the habeas corpus. We demand for the individual the 
largest liberty consistent with public order, for the State self-gov- 
ernment, and for the nation a return to the methods of peace and 
the constitutional limitations of power. 

5. The civil service of the Government has become a mere instru- 
ment of partisan tyranny and personal ambition, and an object of 
selfish greed. It is a scandal and reproach upon free institutions, 
and breeds a demoralization dangerous to the perpetuity of repub- 
lican government. We therefore regard a thorough reform of the 
civil service as one of the most pressing necessities of the hour ; that 
honesty, capacity and fidelity constitute the only valid claims to 
public employment ; that the offices of the Government cease to be a 
matter of arbitrary favoritism and patronage, and that public station 
shall become again a post of honor. To this end it is imperatively 
required that no President shall be a candidate for re-election. 

6. We demand a system of Federal taxation which shall not un- 
necessarily interfere with the industry of the people, and which 
shall provide the means necessary to pay the expenses of the Gov- 
ernment, economically administered, the pensions, the interest on 
the public debt, and a moderate reduction annually of the principal 
thereof; and recognizing that there are in our midst honest but 
irreconcilable differences of opinion with regard to the respective 
systems of protection and free trade, we remit the discussion of the 
subject to the people in their congressional districts and the decision 
of Congress thereon, wholly free from executive interference or 
dictation. 

7. The public credit must be sacredly maintained, and we de- 
nounce repudiation in every form and guise. 

8. A speedy return to specie payments is demanded alike by the 
highest considerations of commercial morality and honest govern- 
ment. 

9. We remember with gratitude the heroism and sacrifices of the 
soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and no act of ours shall ever 
detract from their justly earned fame or the full rewards of their 
patriotism. 

10. We are opposed to all further grants of lands to railroads or 
other corporations. The public domain should be held sacred to 
actual settlers. 

11. We hold that it is the duty of the Government in its inter- 
course with foreign nations to cultivate the friendships of peace by 
treating with all on fair and equal terms, regarding it alike dishon- 
orable to demand what is not right or submit to what is wrong. 

12. For the promotion and success of these vital principles, and 

233 



: ini^rr 



OUR PRESrDI T: 

the support of the candidates nominated by this convention, we 

■jz-r.Zz __:i :::__..; _.::.: t :i__ ::-::t:i:.:r ::' ill :i:r.::.: :::;rt-- 
.:-:_; rtrir: :: ; rt :; _ 5 :•: ..:.:_! ____!: _.-::_: 

When the convention adjourned I regarded the opportu- 
nity to make a successful contest against Grant as wholly 
lost. Greeley had been hammering the Democrats in his 
pungent paragraphs for thirty years, and they could have 
little sympathy with him, and the business interests of the 
country could not accept a President whose financial policy 
was expressed in the single sentence, " The way to resume 
is to resume," referring, of course, to the resumption of 
specie payments, then the most vital issue. There were 
a number of prominent Democrats at the convention 
spectators, and I was surprised to learn before mi< 
rhir rriarry :: rhtrrr iiai ieciiti ::■ favzr :he r^rrrtimriir. : 
the Cmcirmati ticket by the Democratic convention. 

Ti.t Itmirnr. :: 7trr.t__tt lei :fr f:r rht 
of Greeley by the Democratic National Convention, as 
a unml er : : iri.tr S :_.tes, but it was not until the 
Srirt IrrrTttrrirr. :f Irr_i_.rr_. :_:.: -- ~ :: : ::' ..: nrt : At:: ir:; .-:; 
for Governor, with a positive declaration in favor of sup- 
porting I he Libera] 7 -publican national ticket, that thel 
1 : sition of the Democratic party was finally determined. 
After the ::A _.::::.: it 1 5 i : t^ _ ':;- Her. ir_ _"-:_. rht It::::- 
::_r:r ii.rurt _._ :: rht ::..:; :f rht rrr:; rrt::.:ii t:: it 
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Atrrrrcrirs i.il is :: _____ in is ttrr ::' rht Literal Re: 
l::ir. :r:.:t__::_t. 

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: iismriin^ _ 

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rr.:r.:l:_ itfzrt rht rrrterir^ :f rht :: 
_____:: rr_r re: h:_ :.:.r::5t rt:r :: it 1 :_. 
L'rrrfl rhtrr It til :ttr. _.rr =lrr_:_. .:::: 
:t ■•■f:i:tr : : rrtst ::r:tr.:_ :: ""t:: 
become a very formidable political 



-:- 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

announcement of his retirement his fellowship with them 
gradually diminished, and when later he announced that, 
notwithstanding his public declination, he would be a can- 
didate for renomination, the Washington newspaper men 
organized and made an aggressive battle against him. It is 
not disputed that they accomplished his defeat, as Henry 
Wilson, of Massachusetts, was nominated on the ist ballot, 
receiving 3644 votes to 321 J for Colfax. 

The campaign literature of this contest presented the 
singular fact that neither of the Republican candidates for the 
two highest offices of the Government bore his own proper 
name. Grant's name was Hiram Ulysses, but when he was 
appointed a cadet to West Point he was erroneously entered 
as Ulysses S. Grant, and he accepted that name until his 
death. Another campaign story told how Henry Wilson's 
true name was Jeremiah Colbath, and that when known as 
the " Natick Cobbler " he studied night and day to advance 
himself. He was very much charmed with the eloquence of 
Representative Wilson, of New Hampshire, and he finally 
adopted the name of Henry Wilson, by which he was known 
throughout his entire public career. The following platform 
was unanimously adopted : 

The Republican party of the United States, assembled in national 
convention in the city of Philadelphia, on the 5th and 6th days 
of June, 1872, again declares its faith, appeals to its history, and 
announces its position upon the questions before the country. 

During eleven years of supremacy it has accepted with grand 
courage the solemn duties of the time. It suppressed a gigantic 
rebellion, emancipated four millions of slaves, decreed the equal 
citizenship of all, and established universal suffrage. Exhibiting 
unparalleled magnanimity, it criminally punished no man for political 
offences, and warmly welcomed all who proved loyalty by obeying 
the laws and dealing justly with their neighbors. It has steadily 
decreased with firm hand the resultant disorders of a great war, and 
initiated a wise and humane policy toward the Indians. The Pa- 
cific Railroad and similar vast enterprises have been generously 
aided and successfully conducted, the public lands freely given to 
actual settlers, immigration protected and encouraged, and a full 
acknowledgment of the naturalized citizens' rights secured from 
European powers. A uniform national currency has been provided, 
repudiation frowned down, the national credit sustained under the 
most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated at lower 
rates. The revenues have been carefully collected and honestly 
applied. Despite annual large reductions of the rates of taxation, 
the public debt has been reduced during General Grant's Presidency 
at the rate of a hundred millions a year. Great financial crises have 
been avoided, and peace and plenty prevail throughout the land. 
Menacing foreign difficulties have been peacefully and honorably 

235 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

composed, and the honor and power of the nation kept in high 
respect throughout the world. This glorious record of the pas: is 
the party's best pledge for the future- We believe the people will 
not intrust the Government to any part}- or combination of men 
composed chiefly of those who have resisted every step of this benefi- 
cent progress. 

2. The recent amendments to the national Constitution should 
be cordially sustained because they are right, not merely tolerated 
because they are law. and should be carried out according to their 
spirit by appropriate legislation, the enforcement of which can safely 
be intrusted only to the parly that secured these amendments. 

3. Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all 
civil, political, and public rights should be established and effectu- 
ally maintained throughout the Union by efficient and appropriate 
State and Federal legislation. Neither the law nor its administra- 
tion should admit am - discrimination in respect of citizens by reason 
of race, creed, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

4. The National Government should seek to maintain honorable 
peace with all nations, protecting its citizens everywhere, and sym- 
pathizing with all peoples who strive for greater liberty. 

5. Any system of the civil sen-ice under which the subordinate 
positions of the Government are considered rewards for mere party 
zeal is fatalh* demoralizing, and we therefore favor a reform of the 
5; _ ; :ern by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage and, make 
honesty, efficiency, and fidelity the essential qualifications for public 
positions, without practically creating a life-tenure of office. 

6. We are opposed to further grants of the public lands to cor- 
porations and monopolies, and demand that the national domain 
be set apart for free homes for the people. 

" The annual revenue, after paying current expenditures, pen- 
sions, and the interest on the public debt should furnish a moderate 
balance for the reduction of the principal, and that revenue, except 
so much as may be derived from a tax upon tobacco and liquors, 
should be. raised by duties upon importations, the details of which 
should be so adjusted as to aid in securing remunerative wages to 
labor, and promote the industries, prosperity, and growth of the 
whole country. 

8. We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose 
valor saved the Union. Their pensions are a sacred debt of the 
nation, and the widows and orphans of those who died for their 
country are entitled to the care of a generous and grateful people : 
We favor such additional legislation as will extend the bounty of 
the Government to all soldiers and sailors who were honorably dis- 
charged, and who. in the line of duty, became disabled, without 
regard to the length of service or cause of such discharge. 

9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers 
concerning allegiance — "Once a subject always a subject" — 
having at last, through the efforts of the Republican party, been 
abandoned, and the American idea of the individual right to transfer 
allegiance having been accepted by European nations, it is the duty 
of our Government to guard with jealous care the rights of adopted 
citizens against the assumption of unauthorized claims by their 
former governments, and we urge continued careful encouragement 
and protection of voluntary immigration. 

236 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

10. The franking privilege ought to be abolished, and the way 
prepared for a speedy reduction in the rates of postage. 

11. Among the questions which press for attention is that which 
concerns the relations of capital and labor, and the Republican 
party recognizes the duty of so shaping legislation as to secure full 
protection and the amplest field for capital, and for labor, the creator 
of capital, the largest opportunities and a just share of the mutual 
profits of these two great servants of civilization. 

12. We hold that Congress and the President have only fulfilled 
an imperative duty in their measures for the suppression of violent 
and treasonable organizations in certain lately rebellious regions, 
and for the protection of the ballot-box ; and therefore they are 
entitled to the thanks of the nation. 

13. We denounce repudiation of the public debt, in any form or 
disguise, as a national crime. We witness with pride the reduction 
of the principal of the debt, and of the rates of interest upon the 
balance, and confidently expect that our excellent national currency 
will be perfected by a speedy resumption of specie payment. 

14. The Republican party is mindful of its obligations to the 
loyal women of America for their noble devotion to the cause 
of freedom. Their admission to wider spheres of usefulness is 
viewed with satisfaction; and the honest demand of any class of 
citizens for additional rights should be treated with respectful 
consideration. 

15. We heartily approve the action of Congress in extending 
amnesty to those lately in rebellion, and rejoice in the growth of 
peace and fraternal feeling throughout the land. 

16. The Republican party proposes to respect the rights reserved 
by the people to themselves as carefully as the powers delegated by 
them to the States and to the Federal Government. It disapproves 
of the resort to unconstitutional laws for the purpose of removing 
evils by interference with the rights not surrendered by the people 
to either the State or the National Government. 

17. It is the duty of the General Government to adopt such 
measures as may tend to encourage and restore American commerce 
and shipbuilding. 

18. We believe that the modest patriotism, the earnest purpose, 
the sound judgment, the practical wisdom, the incorruptible integ- 
rity, and the illustrious services of Ulysses S. Grant have com- 
mended him to the heart of the American people, and with him at 
our head we start to-day upon a new march to victory. 

19. Henry Wilson, nominated for the Vice-Presidency, known to 
the whole land from the early days of the great struggle for liberty 
as an indefatigable laborer in all campaigns, an incorruptible legis- 
lator, and representative man of American institutions, is worthy 
to associate with our great leader and share the honors which we 
pledge our best efforts to bestow upon them. 

The Democratic National Convention met in Baltimore 
on the 9th of July. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, of Virginia, 
was the temporary president and ex-Senator James R. 
Doolittle, of Wisconsin, was permanent president. The 
Cincinnati Liberal Republican platform was reported by the 

237 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



committee without the change of a word. Senator Bayard, 
of Delaware, vigorously opposed it, but it was adopted by 
670 to 62. A ballot was had for President, resulting as 
follows : 



Horace Greeley, New York, 686 
Jeremiah S. Black, Pennsyl- 
vania 21 



Thos. F. Bayard, Delaware, 16 
Wm. S. Groesback, Ohio ... 2 
Blank 7 



On the 1st ballot for Vice-President, B. Gratz Brown 
received 713 votes to 6 for John W. Stevenson, of Kentucky, 
and 13 blank. The nominations were then made unanimous. 
It was one of the most harmonious conventions that I ever 
witnessed, and there was very general and absolute confi- 
dence felt that the Democrats and Liberals united could 
sweep the country and elect Greeley to the Presidency. 

There were few among the Democratic leaders who openly 
and determinedly dissented. In point of fact the Democratic 
leaders were quite sufficiently united on Greeley to have 
given him the victory, but the rank and file refused to fol- 
low, as was proved by the State elections, all of which 
showed that the Democrats lost more of their following than 
the Republicans gave them from the Liberal ranks. 

It was not until September 3d that the Democratic opposi- 
tion to Greeley took form, when a national convention was 
held at Louisville, Ky., and nominated Charles O'Conor, 
of New York, for President and John Quincy Adams, of 
Massachusetts, for Vice-President without the formality 
of a ballot. Adams had agreed to accept the nomination if 
O'Conor stood at the head of the ticket, but O'Conor 
promptly and peremptorily declined, after which Mr. Lyon, 
president of the convention, was nominated for President, 
but he also declined. The nomination for President was 
then tendered to Mr. Adams, but he refused, and finally the 
convention renominated O'Conor, and adjourned without 
inquiring whether the candidates would stand or decline. 
The following is the platform adopted by the Democratic 
dissenters : 

_ Whereas, A frequent recurrence to first principles, and eternal 
vigilance against abuses, are the wisest provisions for liberty, which 
is the source of progress, and fidelity to our constitutional system is 
the only protection for either; therefore, 

Resolved, That the original basis of our whole political structure 
is a consent in every part thereof. The people of each State volun- 
tarily created their State, and the States voluntarily formed the 

238 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



Union; and each State has provided, by its written Constitution, 
for everything a State should do for the protection of life, liberty, 
and property within it; and each State, jointly with the others, pro- 
vided a Federal Union for foreign and inter-State relations. 

Resolved, That all government powers, whether State or Federal, 
are trust powers coming from the people of each State ; and that 
they are limited to the written letter of the Constitution and the 
laws passed in pursuance of it, which powers must be exercised in 
the utmost good faith, the Constitution itself providing in what man- 
ner they may be altered and amended. 

Resolved, That the interests of labor and capital should not be 
permitted to conflict, but should be harmonized by judicious legisla- 
tion. While such a conflict continues, labor, which is the parent of 
wealth, is entitled to paramount consideration. 

Resolved, That we proclaim to the world that principle is to be 
preferred to power; that the Democratic party is held together by 
the cohesion of time-honored principles which they will never sur- 
render in exchange for all the offices which presidents can confer. 
The pangs of the minorities are doubtless excruciating ; but we wel- 
come an eternal minority under the banner inscribed with our prin- 
ciples rather than an almighty and everlasting majority purchased 
by their abandonment. 

Resolved, That, having been betrayed at Baltimore into a false 
creed and a false leadership by the convention, we repudiate both, 
and appeal to the people to approve our platform, and to rally to 
the polls and support the true platform, and the candidates who 
embody it. 

Resolved, That we are opposed to giving public lands to corpora- 
tions, and favor their disposal to actual settlers only. 

Resolved, That we favor a judicious tariff for revenue purposes 
only, and that we are unalterably opposed to class legislation which 
enriches a few at the expense of the many under the plea of pro- 
tection. 

The campaign was a very earnest one, but after the 
Greeley tide had struck its ebb in the North Carolina elec- 
tion in August, the battle was a hopeless one for Greeley, 
and he was defeated by a very large majority. The follow- 
ing table gives the popular vote : 



STATES. 


Grant. 


Greeley. 


O'Conor. 


Black. 


Maine 


61,422 
37,168 
41,481 

133,472 
13,665 
50,638 

440,736 
91,656 

349,589 


29,087 
31,424 
10,927 
59,260 
5,329 
45,880 

387,281 
76,456 

212,041 


* 100 
593 

204 

1,454 

630 




New Hampshire 


200 


Vermont 




Massachusetts 




Rhode Island 




Connecticut 


206 


New York 


201 


New Jersey 




Pennsylvania 


1,630 







239 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



STATES. 



Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

West Virginia. 
North Carolina 
South Carolina. 

Georgia 

Florida 

Alabama 

Mississippi .... 
Louisiana* .... 
Louisiana! .... 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Missouri 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin 

Minnesota .... 

Iowa 

Nebraska 

Kansas 

Nevada 

California 

Oregon 

Totals. 



Grant. 



11,115 

66,760 

93,468 

32,315 

94,769 

72,290 

62,550 

17,763 

90,272 

82,175 

71,663 

59,975 

47,468 

41,373 

119,196 

85,655 

88,766 

281,852 

138,455 

186,147 

241,944 

104,997 

55,117 

131,566 

18,329 

67,048 

8,413 

54,020 

11,819 



3,597,132 



Greeley. 



10,206 
67,687 
91,654 
29,451 
70,094 
22,703 
76,356 
15,427 
79,444 
47,288 
57,029 
66,467 
66,546 
37,927 

151,434 
94,391 
99,995 

244,321 
78,355 

163,632 

184,938 

86,477 

34,423 

71,196 

7,812 

32,970 

6,236 

40,718 

7,730 



2,834,125 



O'Conor. 



Black. 



487 

19 

42 
600 

187 
4,000 



2,580 

2,439 

2,374 
1,163 
2,861 
1,417 
3,058 
834 



2,221 
596 

1,068 

572 



29,489 



2,100 
1,271 






5,608 



* " Custom house" count. The total vote of the country, as given above, 
includes these returns. 

+ Count by the Warmouth returning board. If these returns should be 
substituted' for the others, the total vote of the country would be: for Grant, 
3,585,444 ; Greeley, 2,843,563. 

I find that many tables of the popular vote are discordant, 
and I have accepted the table prepared by Mr. Stanwood as 
he presented it. The Louisiana dispute arose from two re- 
turning boards. Governor Warmouth, who was, by virtue 
of his office, the head of the returning board, had supported 
Greeley, and the dispute led to two returning boards, each 
of which made a different return of the official vote of the 
State, one giving it to Greeley and the other to Grant. Mr. 
Greeley died soon after the election and before the electoral 
colleges met, and the minority electors, who had been chosen 
for Greeley, were entirely at sea, as will be seen by the fol- 
lowing table of the electoral vote as returned to Congress. 

240 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



There were many quibbles raised in the joint convention of 
the two houses in counting and declaring the vote. Mr. 
Hoar, of Massachusetts, objected to the Georgia votes cast 
for Greeley because he was dead at the time, and various 
other technical objections were made, but the table I give 
shows the vote as it was accepted : 





President. 


Vice-President. 


STATES. 


>— ( 
a 

u 

O 

EC 

CO 

cd 

CO 

en 

5 


(3 

i— i 

co" 
M 
_o 

'u 
-d 
C 
o 

W 
< 

CO 

a 

o 

Xi 

EH 


6 

c 

* 

o 
u 

« 

u 

o 
«" 

6 

8 
4 

18 


>, 

% 

CD 



to 

o 
a 
u 

o 

K 
3* 


O 

c/T 
G 

© 

t— > 

CO 

*n 
o 

2 

2 


i— i 

CO 

> 



> 

Q 

1 

1 


CO 
CO 

oj 
3 

C 

o 

CO 

% 

>> 

u 

a 
cd 


6 

a 
o 

« 

S3 

-4-> 

oS 

!h 



«■ 


d 
c 
i— i 

a 
.5 
"3 

i 

be 
u 
o 
cd 


O 

+j" 
+j 

P 

D< 
O 
O 

X 
-d 

0) 

u 
5 

5 


«-T 

CD 

g 

Oh 

c 

o 
1—1 

3 
3 


M 

CD* 
+-> 
-t-J 

CD 

S 
U 

m 

H 

CO 

a 

o 
,cs 
EH 

3 
3 


CO 

CO 

oj 

8 

CO 

c 

oj 
CQ 

PU 

c 

oS 

1 


d 

^' 

o 

CD 
£1 
CO 
CD 
O 
U 

o 

CO 

a 

l 
1 


c 

CD 

O 

oj 

CO 


Maine 


7 

5 

5 
13 

4 

6 
35 

9 
29 

3 

11 
5 

10 

7 

4 

10 

8 

8* 

6* 

22 
11 
15 
21 
10 

5 
11 

3 

5 

3 

6 

3 


8 

8 

6 
12 

8 


- 7 
5 
5 

4 

6 
35 

9 
29 

3 

11 

5 

10 

7 

4 
10 

8 
8* 

22 

11 

15 

21 

10 

5 

11 

3 

5 

3 

6 

3 


8 

5 

8* 
8 
6* 
6 

12 
8 


5 




Vermont. 


— 


Massachusetts 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 


— 


Pennsylvania 


— 


Maryland 

Virginia 


— 


West Virginia 

North Carolina 

South Carolina 

Georgia 

Florida 


— 


Alabama 




Mississippi 

Louisiana 


— 


Louisiana 

Texas 


— 


Arkansas 


— 






Kentucky 

Ohio 


1 


Michigan 

Indiana 


— 


Illinois 




Wisconsin 




Minnesota 




Iowa 








Kansas 




Nevada 




California 












Total (as declared) 


286 


42 


286 


47 


5 


1 



♦Rejected by Congress. 
241 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

From the time that Greeley was nominated in May, until 
probably a month after the meeting of the Democratic con- 
vention in July, everything pointed to his triumphant elec- 
tion. Leading men of the party were daily announcing 
themselves as his supporters, and a tidal wave that would 
sweep Greeley into the Presidency seemed certain. But in 
August the great business interests of the country, then 
rocked in the tempest of inflation created by the war, became 
appalled at the prospect of the election of Greeley, whose 
financial and business policy would be but an experiment. 
All knew that the business of the country was dangerously 
inflated, and that disaster must come sooner or later, but 
they felt that it would be delayed by the re-election of Grant, 
and in the brief period of one month the Greeley tide began 
its ebb, which doomed him to a most humiliating defeat. 
Had David Davis been the candidate there would have been 
no such apprehension in business and monetary circles, and 
I have never doubted that he would have been elected as the 
logical successor of Abraham Lincoln. 

Although I had opposed the nomination of Greeley, he 
well understood that it was solely because I felt that I was 
thus a better friend to him than he was to himself, and I 
devoted my time to tireless effort to give him success. Out- 
side his editorial duties, in which he was a master of masters, 
he was as guileless and unsophisticated as a child, and even 
his closest friends trembled when they regarded his election 
to the Presidency as more than probable. About the ist of 
August, before the revulsion had become visible, I was sent 
for by Waldo Hutchings to meet the friends of Greeley in 
conference at the Astor House. Among those present were 
Mr. Hutchings, Whitelaw Reid, ex-Congressman Cochran, 
and several others, and they informed me that I had been 
sent for to call upon Greeley and earnestly admonish him 
against making any pledges or promises whatever, before 
the election, as to his Cabinet appointments. They said that 
if elected President his safety would be in having about him 
an able, faithful and discreet Cabinet, and they feared that 
in the kindness of his heart he would become complicated 
with those who sought to importune him for preferment. In 
order to keep him from visitors he was then hidden away in 
a private upstairs room in Brooklyn, where I was directed to 
call on my mission. 

I never saw a happier face than that of Greeley when I 

242 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

met him, as he was then entirely confident of success, and in 
a very kind and facetious way he reminded me that I had 
underestimated his strength with the people. When oppor- 
tunity came in the conversation I suggested to him that a 
man who was elected President by a combination of op- 
posing political interests would have very grave and com- 
plicated duties to perform, and that he should especially 
avoid any Cabinet complications. With the simplicity and 
confidence of a child his answer was : " Don't misunderstand 
me; you ought to know that I would appoint no Cabinet 
officer from your section without your approval." He was 
surprised to find that I was not there to obtain promises, but 
to warn him against the peril of saying to others just what 
he had said to me, and after reviewing the conditions he 
agreed that his only safety was in avoiding all obligations 
relating to appointments until the duty confronted him. 

He asked me to go to North Carolina and give a week to 
the campaign in that State, and to that I agreed, although I 
was in charge of the Pennsylvania battle. That was the last 
time that I saw Horace Greeley. After the disastrous elec- 
tions of October, which clearly foreshadowed his defeat, he 
made New England and Western tours, and delivered 
speeches which well compare with the grandest utterances of 
our best statesmanship. But the tide against him was resist- 
less, and while nursing a dying wife and worn out by his 
ceaseless offices of affection, the blow came that clouded one 
of the noblest, purest, and ablest of the great men of the 
land. 

On the last day that he put pen to paper he wrote me a 
brief letter saying that he was " a man of many sorrows," 
but that he " could not forget the gallant though luckless 
struggle " I had made in his behalf. Broken in health, be- 
reaved in his affections, and disappointed in his greatest am- 
bition, his reason toppled from its throne and he died an in- 
mate of an asylum. The two chieftains of the political con- 
test of 1872 were brought together soon after the victor and 
vanquished were declared, as President Grant stood at the 
tomb of Horace Greeley to pay the last tribute of himself and 
the nation to the fallen philanthropist. 



THE HAYES-TILDEN CONTEST 

1876 

The Presidential contest of 1876 brought into the national 
political arena the strongest personality developed by the 
Republican party, with the single exception of Abraham 
Lincoln. James G. Blaine was admittedly the Henry Clay 
of the Republican party, and both were equally idolized and 
equally fated. The Republican party had men of profounder 
intellect than Blaine, but no one who so completed the circle 
of all the qualities of a popular leader, including masterly 
ability as a disputant. Like Clay, he was idolized by his 
friends and most bitterly defamed by his foes, and both 
were twice defeated by their party for Presidential nomina- 
tions when the party was successful, and both nominated 
only to suffer defeat. 

With an intimate knowledge of the public men of the last 
half century, I regard Blaine as the most magnetic man 
I have ever met. His greeting to friend and stranger was 
always generous without gush, and at once brought all who 
had any communication with him into apparently the closest 
relations. He remembered names of the humblest and most 
distant of his acquaintances; always knew something of 
their communities and their interests. It was not the art 
of a demagogue, but the natural impulse of a big-hearted, 
big-brained enthusiast, and Blaine was an enthusiast in 
everything that enlisted his interest. When, in addition to 
these charming personal qualities, he possessed every attri- 
bute of a great popular orator, it is not difficult to under- 
stand why Blaine became the favorite of the people. Like 
all who have reached any measure of distinction in that 
line, he had bitter and malignant foes, and he could well 
have said of himself, as Clay once did when overcome by 
an exhibition of the generosity of his friends, who had paid 
a note that greatly embarrassed him : " Never had man 
such friends and such enemies as Henry Clay." The chief 
difference between Clay and Blaine was in the fact that the 

244 




RUTHERFORD B. HAYES 



V 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

masses did not know Clay from personal contact, while 
the masses well knew Blaine, and saw him as he was in 
his every-day life as well as in his great achievements in 
politics and statesmanship. In another respect Blaine 
differed widely from Clay. Blaine was a fatalist, and from 
1876, when he was first defeated for the Republican nomi- 
nation for President in Cincinnati, until his name was last 
presented to the Republican National Convention in 1892, 
he was oppressed, profoundly oppressed, with the belief 
that he never could be President; while Clay hoped to 
realize the great dream of his life, and confidently expected 
his election to the Presidency until his final defeat in the 
Philadelphia convention of 1848. 

I saw Blaine soon after the Cincinnati convention of 1876, 
and talked with him for an hour alone at the Continental 
Hotel, and I well remember the sad expression of his strong 
face when he said : " I am the Henry Clay of the Republican 
party ; I can never be President." He was standing by a 
window looking out upon the street, with his arm over my 
shoulder, and he spoke of his hopes and fears with a subdued 
eloquence that was painfully impressive. He was again 
defeated for nomination in 1880, thus suffering two defeats 
when the candidates chosen by the convention were elected. 
He was nominated in 1884 and defeated, thus completing 
the circle of the sad history of Clay and the Whig party. 

Clay was defeated in the Harrisburg convention of Decem- 
ber, 1839, by Harrison, who was elected ; he was nominated 
by the Baltimore convention in 1844, and defeated by Polk ; 
and in 1848 he was again defeated for the nomination in 
the Philadelphia convention by Taylor, who was elected. 
Thus both Clay and Blaine were twice defeated in their 
respective party conventions when their successful competi- 
tors were elected, and both nominated when their parties 
suffered defeats. Soon after Blaine's nomination, in 1884, 
I sent a brilliant staff correspondent of my paper, who had 
intimate personal relations with Blaine, to stay with him 
at Augusta for several weeks. One pleasant afternoon they 
walked along the banks of the Penobscot River, when Blaine 
insensibly diverted the conversation into a soliloquy. He 
said : " Clay was defeated in two conventions when he could 
have been elected President, and he was nominated for 
President when his competitor was elected, and that com- 
petitor was one who had not been publicly discussed as 

245 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

a Presidential candidate before the meeting of the Baltimore 
convention of 1844. I was defeated in two conventions 
when I could have been elected. I am nominated now with 
a competitor alike obscure with the competitor of Clay." 
He then brought the soliloquy to a climax by holding up 
his hand and repeating what he seemed to regard as talis- 
manic figures, "1844-1884." Clay was defeated in 1844, and 
Blaine was impressed with the belief that he would suffer 
defeat in 1884. 

The prospect for Republican success was not flattering 
at the opening of the campaign of 1876. The Grant adminis- 
tration was severely criticised and the party greatly weak- 
ened by the scandals of the Whiskey Ring, the impeachment 
of Secretary Belknap, and by the general business depression 
that began in 1873. The Democrats had carried a large 
majority in the popular branch of Congress in 1874, and 
the Republicans were so seriously alarmed at the prospect 
of losing the election of 1876 that Senator Oliver P. Morton, 
the ablest of the Republican leaders, made an earnest effort 
to procure an amendment to the Constitution providing for 
the election of Presidents by popular vote, but the scheme 
failed. There was also some disturbance in the Republican 
party, caused by the evident desire of General Grant to 
secure a third term. He had written a letter to General 
Harry White, of Pennsylvania, that was very unlike Grant, 
whose habit was to express his convictions clearly and 
tersely, but in this letter he elaborately discussed the question 
of a third term, without distinctly declaring whether he 
would or would not accept it. 

There was but one conclusion that could be drawn from 
the letter, and that was that Grant was more than willing 
to have a third nomination tendered to him. The State 
convention of Pennsylvania, over which General White 
presided, had declared with emphasis " opposition to the 
election to the Presidency of any person for a third term." 
General White expected a letter from President Grant in 
accord with that expression, but the nearest that Grant came 
to a declination was in the single sentence of the letter, 
speaking of the third term, he said : " I do not want it any 
more than I did the first," to which he added the suggestion 
that the Constitution put no restriction upon the period 
a President might serve. 

Another pointed admonition to Grant not to press his 

246 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

candidacy was given by the adoption of a resolution in the 
House, declaring that the established precedent of Wash- 
ington, who retired from the Presidency after the second 
term, had become " a part of our Republican system of 
government, and that any departure from this time-honored 
custom would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with peril 
to our free institutions." This resolution passed by 234 to 
18, and was supported not only by all the Democrats, but 
of the 88 Republicans voting, 70 voted for it. One of the 
peculiar features of the contest for the Republican nomina- 
tion was presented in the candidacy of Benjamin H. Bristow, 
then Secretary of the Treasury, who was not in harmony 
with the President, and yet refused to resign. He was the 
candidate of the most violent anti-Grant element. 

The Republican convention met at Cincinnati on the 14th 
of June, and it was one of the most earnest and stubborn 
contests I have ever witnessed. Blaine had a clear majority 
of the delegates in the convention, and certainly would have 
been nominated with anything like fair play. On the Sunday 
morning immediately before the meeting of the convention, 
and when all the delegates and the outside political hustlers 
were earnestly at work in Cincinnati, a dispatch came from 
Washington that fell like a thunderbolt from an unclouded 
sky upon Blaine's friends. He had fallen at the church 
door when about to enter for service, and was unconscious 
for some time, and the opponents of Blaine made the most 
of the misfortune. 

The first reports of his illness were greatly exaggerated, 
and his friends at the convention were much disconcerted 
and discouraged, but when on Monday morning he tele- 
graphed them himself that his illness was not serious, all 
were again thoroughly united to force his nomination. The 
friends of Blaine had a majority of the convention. There 
was not an hour during the sessions of that body that a 
majority of the delegates did not desire to nominate him 
for President, but many were held by instructions or other 
complications, as was the entire Pennsylvania delegation, 
made up almost wholly of Blaine men, but instructed for 
Governor Hartranft. Strange as it may seem, he received 
the votes of a majority of all the delegates in the convention, 
but not on any one ballot, and never was the wish of a 
nominating body so artfully misled from its intent. 

The speech of Ingersoll nominating Blaine was the most 

247 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

powerful and impressive I ever heard before a deliberative 
body, and had a ballot been reached on that day no combina- 
tion could have prevented Blaine's success. The struggle 
was desperate for delay, and the opponents of Blaine, fearing 
that the session might be extended into the evening, and 
thus reach a ballot without adjournment, had the gas clan- 
destinely cut off from the building, and an adjournment was 
enforced by darkness. The enemies of Blaine were very 
powerful. President Grant was one of the most aggressive 
and vindictive, and ex-Senator Cameron, who was then 
Secretary of War. was chairman of the Pennsylvania delega- 
tion, and pitiless and tireless in his opposition to Blaine. 

At nearly midnight, before the second day of the conven- 
tion, Cameron had decided that he must give up the battle 
against Blaine and assent to his nomination, as his delegation 
had become very refractor}-, and all knew that Blaine could 
be nominated whenever all who desired his nomination were 
free to vote for him. His defeat was planned in and executed 
from Cameron's room, who had his trusted lieutenants about 
him, including the late Robert W. Mackey. who was the 
most accomplished and practical politician of his day in 
Pennsylvania, and the late William H. Kemble. It was 
ircided to propose to the Pennsylvania delegation that as 
they were instructed for Hartranft. and to vote as a unit, 
they should do so only while Hartranft's vote increased, and 
that whenever he dropped in the race the delegation should 
then vote as a unit as the majority directed. This was 
enthusiastically accepted by the friends of Blaine, as they 
believed that Hartranft's strength would soon be exhausted, 
and that then they would get a solid vote for Blaine ; but 
Mackey and Kemble, who understood how to manage 
politicians of every grade, including the carpet-baggers and 
colored political speculators from the South, arranged with 
a number of delegations, chiefly in the Southern States, to 
have Hartranft's vote increased slightly on every ballot. 

Instead of starting Hartranft with an exhibition of his full 
strength, part of it was held back, and, to the consternation 
of the Blaine men from this State, Hartranft's vote was 
maintained until the climax came in the landslide to Gov- 
ernor Hayes, of Ohio, as a compromise candidate. But for 
Secretary Cameron and State Treasurer Mackey and ex- 
State Treasurer Kemble. Blaine's nomination would have 
been absolutely certain at the Cincinnati convention in iS~: 

248 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



The convention had as permanent president Edward Mc- 
Pherson, of Pennsylvania, who was a devoted friend of 
Blaine, but whose delegation, under the manipulation of 
Chairman Cameron, was held from Blaine until it was too 
late to be of service to him. Conkling, of New York, who 
had the unanimous support of his State, was the favorite 
candidate of the administration, but from Blaine's opponents 
was heard on every side the slogan " anybody to beat 
Blaine." It was not until the third day that a ballot was 
reached, and on the 7th a stampede was made to Governor 
Hayes, of Ohio, and he was unanimously declared the nomi- 
nee of the party. The following table exhibits the ballots 
in detail : 
, I 





4-S 

u 


•3 
n 




<u 
CO 


u 

!S 


u 






02 


4-i : 

A 
PI 

> 

xtx 


Blaine 


285 

125 

113 

99 

61 

58 

11 

3 


296 

120 

114 

93 

64 

63 

4 


293 

113 

121 

90 

67 

68 

3 


292 

108 

126 

84 

68 

71 

5 


286 
95 

114 
82 

104 
69 

5 


308 
85 

111 
81 

113 
50 

5 


351 


Morton 


___ 


Bristow 


21 


Conkling 




Hayes.. . . 


384 


Hartranft 




Jewell 




Scattering 


___ 







William A. Wheeler, of New York, was nominated for 
Vice-President without a formal ballot, as soon after the bal- 
loting began the several other candidates were withdrawn, 
and he was nominated by acclamation. The following plat- 
form was unanimously adopted : 

When, in the economy of Providence, this land was to be purged 
of human slavery, and when the strength of government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people, was to be demonstrated, 
the Republican party came into power. Its deeds have passed into 
history, and we look back to them with pride. Incited by their 
memories to high aims for the good of our country and mankind, 
and looking to the future with unfaltering courage, hope, and pur- 
pose, we, the representatives of the party in national convention 
assembled, make the following declaration of principles : 

1. The United States of America is a nation, not a league. By 
the combined workings of the national and State governments, un- 
der their respective Constitutions, the rights of every citizen are 
secured, at home and abroad, and the common welfare promoted. 

2. The Republican party has preserved these governments to the 

249 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

hundredth anniversary of the nation's birth, and they are now em- 
bodiments of the great truths spoken at its cradle, " That all men 
are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- 
tain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness; that for the attainment of these ends govern- 
ments have been instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed." Until these truths are cheer- 
fully obeyed, or, if need be, vigorously enforced, the work of the 
Republican party is unfinished. 

3. The permanent pacification of the Southern section of the 
Union, and the complete protection of all its citizens in the free en- 
joyment of all their rights, is a duty to which the Republican party 
stands sacredly pledged. The power to provide for the enforce- 
ment of the principles embodied by the recent constitutional amend- 
ments is vested by those amendments in the Congress of the United 
States, and we declare it to be the solemn obligation of the legislative 
and executive departments of the Government to put into imme- 
diate and vigorous exercise all their constitutional powers for re- 
moving any just causes of discontent on the part of any class, and 
for securing to every American citizen complete liberty and exact 
equality in the exercise of all civil, political, and public rights. To 
this end we imperatively demand a Congress and a Chief Executive 
whose courage and fidelity to these duties shall not falter until these 
results are placed beyond dispute or recall. 

4. In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant, the 
National Government assumed to remove any doubts of its purpose 
to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and " sol- 
emnly pledged its faith to make provision, at the earliest practicable 
period, for the redemption of the United States notes in coin." 
Commercial prosperity, public morals, and national credit demand 
that this promise be fulfilled by a continuous and steady progress 
to specie payment. 

5. Under the Constitution the President and heads of depart- 
ments are to make nominations for office; the Senate is to advise 
and consent to appointments, and the House of Representatives is 
to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best interest of the 
public service demands that these distinctions be respected ; that 
Senators and Representatives, who may be judges and accusers, 
should not dictate appointments to office. The invariable rule in 
appointments should have reference to the honesty, fidelity, and 
capacity of the appointees, giving to the party in power those places 
where harmony and vigor of administration require its policy to be 
represented, but permitting all others to be filled by persons selected 
with sole reference to the efficiency of the public service, and the 
right of all citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful ser- 
vice to the country. 

6. We rejoice in the quickened conscience of the people concern- 
ing political affairs, and will hold all public officers to a rigid respon- 
sibility, and engage that the prosecution and punishment of all who 
betray official trusts shall be swift, thorough, and unsparing. 

7. The public-school system of the several States is a bulwark 
of the American Republic, and, with a view to its security and per- 
manence, we recommend an amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States forbidding the application of any public funds or 

250 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

property for the benefit of any schools or institutions under sectarian 
control. 

8. The revenue necessary for current expenditures and the obli- 
gations of the public debt must be largely derived from duties upon 
importations, which, so far as possible, should be adjusted to pro- 
mote the interests of American labor and advance the prosperity of 
the whole country. 

g. We reaffirm our opposition to further grants of the public land 
to corporations and monopolies, and demand that the national 
domain be devoted to free homes for the people. 

10. It is the imperative duty of the Government so to modify exist- 
ing treaties with European governments, that the same protection 
shall be afforded to the adopted American citizen that is given to the 
native-born ; and that all necessary laws should be passed to protect 
emigrants, in the absence of power in the States for that purpose. 

n. It is the immediate duty of Congress fully to investigate the 
effect of immigration and importation of Mongolians upon the moral 
and material interests of the country. 

12. The Republican party recognizes with its approval the sub- 
stantial advances recently made toward the establishment of equal 
rights for women by the many important amendments effected by 
Republican Legislatures in the laws which concern the personal and 
property relations of wives, mothers, and widows, and by the ap- 
pointment and election of women to the superintendence of educa- 
tion, charities, and other public trusts. The honest demands of this 
class of citizens for additional rights, privileges, and immunities 
should be treated with respectful consideration. 

13. The Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over 
the Territories of the United States for their government, and in 
the exercise of this power it is the right and duty of Congress to 
prohibit and extirpate, in the Territories, that relic of barbarism — 
polygamy; and we demand such legislation as shall secure this end 
and the supremacy of American institutions in all the Territories. 

14. The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers and 
sailors must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those 
who imperilled their lives for the country's preservation in the kind- 
est remembrance. 

15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tendencies. 
We therefore note with deep solicitude that the Democratic party 
counts, as its chief hope of success, upon the electoral vote of a 
united South, secured through the efforts of those who were recently 
arrayed against the nation ; and we invoke the earnest attention of 
the country to the grave truth that a success thus achieved would 
reopen sectional strife and imperil national honor and human rights. 

16. We charge the Democratic party with being the same in char- 
acter and spirit as when it sympathized with treason ; with making 
its control of the House of Representatives the triumph and opportu- 
nity of the nation's recent foes ; with reasserting and applauding in 
the national Capitol the sentiments of unrepentant rebellion ; with 
sending Union soldiers to the rear, and promoting Confederate 
soldiers to the front ; with deliberately proposing to repudiate the 
plighted faith of the Government ; with being equally false and imbe- 
cile upon the overshadowing financial questions ; with thwarting the 
ends of justice by its partisan mismanagement and obstruction of 

251 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

:-■ t^tigation: with proving itself, through the period of its ascend- 
ancy in the lower house of Congress, utterly incompetent to admin- 
ister the Government; and we warn the country against trusting a 
party thus alike unworthy, recreant and incapable. 

: " The national administration merits commendation for its honor- 
able work in the management of domestic and foreign affairs, and 
President Grant deserves the continued hearty gratitude of the 
American people for his patriotism and his eminent services, in war 
and in peace. 

18. We present as our candidates for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States two distinguished statesmen, of eminent 
ability and character, and conspicuously fitted for those high offices, 
and we confidently appeal to the American people to intrust the 
administration of their public affairs to Rutherford B. Hayes and 
William A. Wheeler. 

The friends of Blaine were grievously disappointed at the 
action of the Cincinnati convention, but Blaine promptly 
came to the front in his heroic way, and made a tireless bat- 
tle for the success of the ticket. 

The Democratic convention met at St. Louis on the 28th 
of June. Henry Watterson, of Kentucky, was temporary 
chairman, and was succeeded by General John A. McCler- 
nand, of Illinois, as permanent presiding officer. This was the 
first convention to cross the Father of Waters, and it was a 
thoroughly organized Tilden convention before it met. Til- 
den was the ablest political manager in the Democratic party 
of that day. He was tireless, methodical, and sagacious, 
and he made his nomination over Hancock and Hendricks 
by early and complete organization of his friends in all the 
debatable States. He had won national reputation by his 
courage in bringing Tweed to justice, and he was regarded 
by the country generally as well equipped for the high duties 
of Chief Magistrate. The friends of Hendricks made a des- 
perate battle for him, but they were outclassed in leadership, 
and it was a Tilden convention when the body convened, 
with very able men to hold it in subjection. 

The Tilden forces required little leadership at St. Louis, 
as his nomination had been thoroughly accomplished before 
the convention met. Tilden exhausted his wonderful pow- 
ers of organization in getting control of the delegations of 
doubtful States, and looked minutely to the men who should 
r rhosen as delegates, and when the convention met there 
was no boisterous jostling between the opposing forces, as 
the majority was complete in its organization and moved 
with directness to the accomplishment of its purpose. 

252 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

William L. Scott, of Erie, Perm., who was twice elected to 
Congress in an overwhelmingly Republican district, was the 
accepted leader of the Tilden people. He was personally 
popular, self-poised, sagacious, and discreet, and all he had 
to do was to keep his solid lines unbroken. 

The minority was dumbfounded at the development of the 
Tilden strength, but the Hendricks people, led by McDonald, 
of Indiana — afterward United States Senator — and most 
zealously and aggressively aided by the helpless Tammany 
minority in the New York delegation, fought heroically at 
every step ; but with Scott to manage and Harry Watterson 
to inspire the Tilden people, they maintained their mastery 
from start to finish, and Tilden was declared the nominee. 
When the nomination was announced the convention pre- 
sented a singular spectacle. The Tilden delegates were at 
once upon their feet cheering lustily and waving their hand- 
kerchiefs, and one after another of the minority delegations 
rose and joined in the huzzas for the declared candidate, 
but the Indiana delegates sat stubbornly in their seats, pre- 
senting the appearance of a small cleared patch in a forest. 
The convention waited some minutes for the Indiana men to 
rise, but they kept their seats. The next day Hendricks was 
made the candidate for Vice-President in spite of the pro- 
tests of his delegation and his friends, and finally the conven- 
tion joined in united cheers for the ticket. 

Much bitterness was developed during the struggle be- 
tween the opposing clans, and a duel between General Mor- 
gan, a fighting Democratic soldier of Ohio, and Colonel 
Breckenridge, of Kentucky, was only averted, when the con- 
vention adjourned, by Colonel Watterson hurrying Brecken- 
ridge off to dinner, and compelling him to make concessions 
which properly satisfied the Ohio warrior. 

It required only two ballots to give Tilden the nomination, 
as follows : 



Samuel J. Tilden, N. Y. . . 
Thomas A. Hendricks, Ind 
Winfield S. Hancock, Penn 

William Allen, Ohio 

Thomas F. Bayard, Del. . . . 

Joel Parker, N. J 

Allen G. Thurman, Ohio. . . 



First. 



Second. 



417 


535 


140 


60 


75 


59 


56 


54 


33 


11 


18 


18 


— 


7 



253 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

The platform was prepared under Tilden's own direction, 
and it was unanimously adopted as follows : 

We, the delegates of the Democratic party of the United States, 
in national convention assembled, do hereby declare the adminis- 
tration of the Federal Government to be in urgent need of im- 
mediate reform; do hereby enjoin upon the nominees of this con- 
vention, and of the Democratic party in each State, a zealous effort 
and co-operation to this end; and do hereby appeal to our fellow- 
citizens of every former political connection to undertake with us 
this first and most pressing patriotic duty. 

For the Democracy of the whole country, we do here reaffirm 
our faith in the permanence of the Federal Union, our devotion to 
the Constitution of the United States, with its amendments uni- 
versally accepted as a final settlement of the controversies that en- 
gendered civil war, and do here record our steadfast confidence in 
the perpetuity of Republican self-government. 

In absolute acquiescence in the will of the majority — the vital 
principle of republics ; in the supremacy of the civil over the mili- 
tary authority ; in the total separation of Church and State, for the 
sake alike of civil and religious freedom ; in the equality of all 
citizens before just laws of their own enactment; in the liberty of 
individual conduct, unvexed by sumptuary laws ; in the faithful edu- 
cation of the rising generation, that they may preserve, enjoy, and 
transmit these best conditions of human happiness and hope — we 
behold the noblest products of a hundred years of changeful history ; 
but, while upholding the bond of our Union and great charter of 
these our rights, it behooves a free people to practise also that 
eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty. 

Reform is necessary to rebuild and establish in the hearts of the 
whole people the Union, eleven years ago happily rescued from the 
danger of a secession of States, but now to be saved from a corrupt 
centralism which, after inflicting upon ten States the rapacity of 
carpet-bag tyrannies, has honeycombed the offices of the Federal 
Government itself with incapacity, waste, and fraud ; infected 
States and municipalities with the contagion of misrule, and locked 
fast the prosperity of an industrious people in the paralysis of hard 
times. 

Reform is necessary to establish a sound currency, restore the 
public credit, and maintain the national honor. 

We denounce the failure, for all these eleven years of peace, to 
make good the promise of the legal tender notes, which are a 
changing standard of value in the hands of the people, and the 
non-payment of which is a disregard of the plighted faith of the 
nation. 

We denounce the improvidence which, in eleven years of peace, 
has taken from the people in Federal taxes thirteen times the whole 
amount of the legal tender notes, and squandered four times their 
sum in useless expense without accumulating any reserve for their 
redemption. 

We denounce the financial imbecility and immorality of that party 
which, during eleven years of peace, has made no advance toward 
resumption, no preparation for resumption, but instead has ob- 

254 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

structed resumption, by wasting our resources and exhausting all 
our surplus income ; and, while annually professing to intend a 
speedy return to specie payments, has annually enacted fresh 
hindrances thereto. As such hindrance, we denounce the resumption 
clause of the act of 1875, and we here demand its repeal. 

We demand a judicious system of preparation by public econ- 
omy, by official retrenchment, and by wise finance, which shall 
enable the nation soon to assure the whole world of its perfect 
ability and its perfect readiness to meet any of its promises at the 
call of the creditor entitled to payment. 

We believe such a system, well devised, and, above all, intrusted 
to competent hands for its execution, creating at no time an arti- 
ficial scarcity of currency, and at no time alarming the public mind 
into a withdrawal of that vaster machinery of credit by which 
ninety-five per cent, of all business transactions are performed — a 
system open, public, and inspiring general confidence — would, from 
the day of its adoption, bring healing on its wings to all our 
harassed industries, set in motion the wheels of commerce, manu- 
factures, and the mechanic arts, restore employment to labor, and 
renew in all its natural resources the prosperity of the people. 

Reform is necessary in the sum and modes of Federal taxation, 
to the end that capital may be set free from distrust, and labor 
lightly burdened. 

We denounce the present tariff, levied upon nearly four thousand 
articles, as a masterpiece of injustice, inequality, and false pretence. 
It yields a dwindling, not a yearly rising revenue. It has impov- 
erished many industries to subsidize a few. It prohibits imports 
that might purchase the products of American labor. It has de- 
graded American commerce from the first to an inferior rank on 
the high seas. It has cut down the sales of American manufactures 
at home and abroad and depleted the returns of American agricul- 
ture — an industry followed by half our people. It costs the people 
five times more than it produces to the treasury, obstructs the proc- 
esses of production, and wastes the fruits of labor. It promotes 
fraud, fosters smuggling, enriches dishonest officials, and bank- 
rupts honest merchants. We demand that all custom-house taxation 
shall be only for revenue. 

Reform is necessary in the scale of public expense — Federal, 
State, and municipal. Our Federal taxation has swollen from sixty 
millions gold, in i860, to four hundred and fifty millions currency, 
in 1870; our aggregate taxation from one hundred and fifty-four 
millions gold, in i860, to seven hundred and thirty millions cur- 
rency, in 1870 ; or in one decade from less than five dollars per 
head to more than eighteen dollars per head. Since the peace, the 
people have paid to their tax gatherers more than thrice the sum 
of the national debt, and more than twice that sum for the Fed- 
eral Government alone. We demand a rigorous frugality in every 
department, and from every officer of the Government. 

Reform is necessary to put a stop to the profligate waste of the 
public lands and their diversion from actual settlers by the party in 
power, which has squandered two hundred million acres upon rail- 
roads alone, and out of more than thrice that aggregate has dis- 
posed of less than a sixth directly to tillers of the soil. 

Reform is necessary to correct the omissions of a Republican 

255 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Congress, and the errors of our treaties and diplomacy, which have 
stripped our fellow-citizens of foreign birth and kindred race re- 
crossing the Atlantic, of the shield of American citizenship, and 
have exposed our brethren of the Pacific coast to the incursions of 
a race not sprung from the same great parent stock, and, in fact, 
now by law denied citizenship through naturalization as being 
neither accustomed to the traditions of a progressive civilization 
nor exercised in liberty under equal laws. We denounce the policy 
which thus discards the liberty-loving German and tolerates a re- 
vival of the Cooly trade in Mongolian women imported for im- 
moral purposes, and Mongolian men held to perform servile labor- 
contracts, and demand such modification of the treaty with the 
Chinese empire or such legislation within constitutional limitations 
as shall prevent further importation or immigration of the Mon- 
golian race. 

Reform is necessary, and can never be effected but by making it 
the controlling issue of the elections, and lifting it above the two 
false issues with which the office-holding class and the party in 
power seek to smother it : 

i. The false issue with which they would enkindle sectarian strife 
in respect to the public schools, of which the establishment and 
support belong exclusively to the several States, and which the 
Democratic party has cherished from their foundation, and is re- 
solved to maintain without prejudice or preference for any class, 
sect, or creed, and without largesses from the treasury to any. 

2. The false issue by which they seek to light anew the dying 
embers of sectional hate between kindred peoples once estranged, 
but now reunited in one indivisible republic and a common destiny. 

Reform is necessary in the civil service. Experience proves that 
efficient, economical conduct of the governmental business is not 
possible if its civil service be subject to change at every election; 
be a prize fought for at the ballot-box; be a brief reward of party 
zeal, instead of posts of honor assigned for proved competency, 
and held- for fidelity in the public employ ; that the dispensing of 
patronage should neither be a tax upon the time of all our public 
men, nor the instrument of their ambition. Here, again, promises 
falsified in the performance attest that the party in power can work 
out no practical or salutary reform. 

Reform is necessary even more in the higher grades of the pub- 
lic service. President, Vice-President, judges, Senators, Represen- 
tatives, Cabinet officers — these and all others in authority are the 
people's servants. Their offices are not a private perquisite ; they 
are a public trust. 

When the annals of this Republic show the disgrace and censure 
of a Vice-President ; a late Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives marketing his rulings as a presiding officer ; three Senators 
profiting secretly by their votes as law-makers ; five chairmen of 
the leading committees of the House of Representatives exposed 
in jobbery; a late Secretary of the Treasury forcing balances in 
the public accounts ; a late Attorney-General misappropriating pub- 
lic funds ; a Secretary of the Navy enriched or enriching friends 
by percentages levied off the profits of contractors with his depart- 
ment; an ambassador to England censured in a dishonorable 
speculation; the President's private secretary barely escaping con-, 

256 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

viction upon trial for guilty complicity in frauds upon the revenue; 
a Secretary of War impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, 
— the demonstration is complete that the first step in reform must 
be the people's choice of honest men from another party, lest the 
disease of one political organization infect the body politic, and 
lest, by making no change of men or parties, we get no change of 
measures and no real reform. 

All these abuses, wrongs, and crimes, the product of sixteen 
years' ascendency of the Republican party, create a necessity for 
reform confessed by Republicans themselves ; but their reformers 
are voted down in convention and displaced from the Cabinet. 
The party's mass of honest voters is powerless to resist the eighty 
thousand office-holders, its leaders and guides. 

Reform can only be had by a peaceful civic revolution. We 
demand a change of system, a change of administration, a change 
of parties, that we may have change of measures and of men. 

Resolved, That this convention, representing the Democratic 
party of the United States, do cordially endorse the action of the 
present House of Representatives in reducing and curtailing the 
expenses of the Federal Government, in cutting down salaries, ex- 
travagant appropriations, and in abolishing useless offices and 
places not required by the public necessities ; and we shall trust to 
the firmness of the Democratic members of the House that no com- 
mittee of conference and no misinterpretation of the rules shall 
be allowed to defeat these wholesome measures of economy de- 
manded by the country. 

Resolved, That the soldiers and sailors of the Republic, and the 
widows and orphans of those who have fallen in battle, have a 
just claim upon the care, protection, and gratitude of their fellow- 
citizens. 

Business and trade were very much depressed in 1876, as 
the country was then approaching the panic and industrial 
troubles of 1877, which convulsed the country from Eastern 
to Western sea, and the Greenback or Independent National 
party, as it was called, exhibited formidable proportions in 
the contest. It held its national convention at Indianapolis 
on the 1 8th of May, with Thomas J. Durant, of Washington, 
D. C, as permanent president. Peter Cooper, the noted 
philanthropist of New York, was unanimously nominated 
for President, and Newton Booth, then a California Senator, 
was in like manner nominated for Vice-President, but he 
declined, and General Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, was substi- 
tuted. There were 19 States represented by 239 delegates. 
The following platform was unanimously adopted : 

The Independent party is called into existence by the necessities 
of the people, whose industries are prostrated, whose labor is de- 
prived of its just reward, by a ruinous policy which the Republican 
and Democratic parties refuse to change, and in view of the failure 

257 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

of these parties to furnish relief to the depressed industries of the 
country, thereby disappointing the just hopes and expectations of 
the suffering people, we declare our principles, and invite all inde- 
pendent and patriotic men to join our ranks in this movement for 
financial reform and industrial emancipation. 

i. We demand the immediate and unconditional repeal of the 
Specie-Resumption act of January 14. 1875, and the rescue of our 
industries from ruin and disaster resulting from its enforcement; 
and we call upon all patriotic men to organize, in every Congres- 
sional district of the country, with a view of electing Representa- 
tives to Congress who will carry out the wishes of the people in 
this regard, and stop the present suicidal and destructive policy of 
contraction. 

2. We believe that a United States note, issued directly by the 
Government, and convertible on demand into United States obli- 
gations, bearing a rate of interest not exceeding one cent a day on 
each one hundred dollars, and exchangeable for United States notes 
at par, will afford the best circulating medium ever devised. Such 
United States notes should be full legal tender for all purposes ex- 
cept for the payment of such obligations as are, by existing con- 
tracts, especially made payable in coin, and we hold that it is the 
duty of the Government to provide such circulating medium, and 
insist, in the language of Thomas Jefferson, that bank paper must 
be suppressed, and the circulation restored to the nation, to whom 
it belongs. 

3. It is the paramount duty of the Government, in all its legisla- 
tion, to keep in view the full development of all legitimate business, 
agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and commercial. 

4. We most earnestly protest against any further issue of gold 
bonds, for sale in foreign markets, by which we would be made, for 
a long period, hewers of wood and drawers of water for foreigners, 
especially as the American people would gladly and promptly take, 
at par, all bonds the Government may need to sell, provided they 
are made payable at the option of the holder, and bearing interest 
at 3.65 per cent, per annum, or even a lower rate. 

5. We further protest against the sale of Government bonds for 
the purpose of purchasing silver, to be used as a substitute for our 
more convenient and less fluctuating fractional currency, which, 
although well calculated to enrich owners of silver mines, yet in 
operation it will still further oppress, in taxation, an already over- 
burdened people. 

The Prohibitionists held their national convention at 
Cleveland, O., on the 17th of May, and nominated Greene 
Clay Smith, of Kentucky, for President, and G. T. Stewart, 
of Ohio, for Vice-President, by acclamation, and adopted 
the following platform : 

The Prohibition Reform party of the United States, organized in 
the name of the people to revive, enforce, and perpetuate in the 
Government the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence, sub- 
mit in this centennial year of the Republic, for the suffrages of all 

258 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

good citizens, the following platform of national reforms and meas- 
ures: 

i. The legal prohibition in the District of Columbia, the Terri- 
tories, and in every other place subject to the laws of Congress, of 
the importation, exportation, manufacture, and traffic of all alcoholic 
beverages as high crimes against society; an amendment of the 
national Constitution to render these prohibitory measures universal 
and permanent; and the adoption of treaty stipulations with foreign 
powers to prevent the importation and exportation of all alcoholic 
beverages. 

2. The abolition of class legislation and of special privileges in the 
Government, and of the adoption of equal suffrage and eligibility to 
office without distinction of race, religious creed, property, or sex. 

3. The appropriation of the public lands in limited quantities to 
actual settlers only; the reduction of the rates of inland and ocean 
postage ; of telegraphic communication ; of railroad and water trans- 
portation and travel to the lowest practicable point by force of law, 
wisely and justly framed, with reference not only to the interests 
of capital employed, but to the higher claims of the general good. 

4. The suppression by law of lottery and gambling in gold, stocks, 
produce, and every form of money and property, and the penal 
inhibition of the use of the public mails for advertising schemes of 
gambling and lotteries. 

5. The abolition of those foul enormities, polygamy and the social 
evil, and the protection of purity, peace, and happiness of homes 
by ample and efficient legislation. 

6. The national observance of the Christian Sabbath, established 
by laws prohibiting ordinary labor and business in all departments 
of public service and private employment (works of necessity, char- 
ity, and religion excepted) on that day. 

7. The establishment by mandatory provisions in national and 
State Constitutions, and by all necessary legislation, of a system of 
free public schools for the universal and forced education of all the 
youth of the land. 

8. The free use of the Bible, not as a ground of religious creeds, 
but as text-book of the purest morality, the best liberty, and the 
noblest literature, in our public schools, that our children may 
grow up in its light, and that its spirit and principles may pervade 
the nation. 

9. The separation of the Government in all departments and 
institutions, including the public schools and all funds for their 
maintenance, from the control of every religious sect or other asso- 
ciation, and the protection alike of all sects by equal laws, with 
entire freedom of religious faith and worship. 

10. The introduction into all treaties hereafter negotiated with 
foreign governments of a provision for the amicable settlement of 
international difficulties by arbitration. 

11. The abolition of all barbarous modes and instruments of pun- 
ishment ; the recognition of the laws of God and the claims of 
humanity in the discipline of jails and prisons, and of that higher 
and wiser civilization worthy of our age and nation, which regards 
the reform of criminals as a means for the prevention of crime. 

12. The abolition of executive and legislative patronage, and 
the election of President, Vice-President, United States Senators, 

259 



OUR PRESIDENTS' 

and of all civil officers, so far as practicable, by the direct vote of the 
people. 

13. The practice of a friendly and liberal policy to immigrants from 
all nations, the guarantee to them of ample protection, and of equal 
rights and privileges. 

14. The separation of the money of Government from all bank- 
ing institutions. The National Government only should exercise the 
high prerogative of issuing paper money, and that should be sub- 
ject to prompt redemption on demand in gold and silver, the only 
equal standards of value recognized by the civilized world. 

15. The reduction of the salaries of public officers in a just ratio 
with the decline of wages and market prices, the abolition of sine- 
cures, unnecessary offices, and official fees and perquisites ; the prac- 
tice of strict economy in Government expenses, and a free and thor- 
ough investigation into any and all alleged abuses of public trusts. 

A mass convention held under the name of the American 
National party met in Pittsburg on the 9th of June, 1875, 
and nominated James B. Walker, of Illinois, for President, 
and Donald Kirkpatrick, of -New York, for Vice-President. 
This political organization made no figure in the contest of 
1876, and did not again appear in the subsequent national 
elections. The following platform was adopted : 

We hold : 1. That ours is a Christian and not a heathen nation, 
and that the God of the Christian Scriptures is the author of civil 
government 

2. That God requires and man needs a Sabbath. 

3. That the prohibition of the importation, manufacture, and sale 
of intoxicating drinks as a beverage is the true policy on the tem- 
perance question. 

4. The charters of all secret lodges granted by our Federal and 
State Legislatures should be withdrawn, and their oaths prohibited 
by law. 

5. That the civil equality secured to all American citizens by Arti- 
cle 13th, 14th, and 15th of our amended Constitution should be pre- 
served inviolate. 

6. That arbitration of differences with nations is the most direct 
and sure method of securing and perpetuating a permanent peace. 

7. That to cultivate the intellect without improving the morals of 
men. is to make mere adepts and experts ; therefore, the Bible should 
be associated with books of science and literature in all our educa- 
tional institutions. 

8. That land and other monopolies should be discountenanced. 

9. That the Government should furnish the people with an ample 
and sound currency, and a return to specie payment as soon as prac- 
ticable. 

10. That maintenance of the public credit, protection to all loyal 
citizens, and justice to Indians are essential to the honor and safety 
of our nation. 

11. And finally, we demand for the American people the abolition 
of electoral colleges, and a direct vote for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

260 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

The contest of 1876 was conducted with great earnestness, 
but it was not distinguished for the defamation of can- 
didates. The popular tide seemed to be with Tilden, as the 
reformation he had wrought in the Democratic party by the 
overthrow of Tweed in New York presented him in bold 
contrast to the administration of Grant, that had brought 
a tempest of scandals upon the party ; but misfortune seemed 
to multiply upon Tilden from the beginning to the close 
of the battle. His first disaster, and what in the end proved 
to be a fatal one, was the result of the admission of Colorado 
into the Union. Thomas N. Patterson, an active Democrat, 
had been chosen as a delegate to Congress from Colorado 
in 1874 by a majority of 2163, and he gave the Democrats, 
who largely controlled the House, the positive assurance 
that the admission of Colorado would bring in another 
Democratic State. They had the power to exclude Colorado, 
but believing that the large majority of the Democrats had, 
under Patterson's lead in 1874, anchored the Territory safely 
in the Democratic column, the Democrats admitted the new 
State, and her three electoral votes decided the election 
against Tilden, as even with South Carolina, Florida, and 
Louisiana taken from Tilden, all of which had voted for 
him, Hayes was chosen by a single vote. 

The first State election in Colorado was held in the 
summer of 1876, and to the utter consternation of the Demo- 
crats the Republicans elected the entire State ticket with 
25 majority on joint ballot in the Legislature, and it was 
settled before the State election that the new State would 
not be put to the trouble and expense of another election for 
President in the fall, and that the Legislature would choose 
the electors, as it did. Tilden thus started in the contest 
with three electoral votes positively assured against him in 
the new State, that had been admitted because it was confi- 
dently expected to be Democratic. 

On the popular vote Tilden had, according to the Repub- 
lican returns, 252,224 majority over Hayes, and had the 
electoral colleges cast their votes as the popular vote was 
cast in Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina, Tilden would 
have received 203 to 156 for Hayes. The following table 
presents the popular vote and gives the Democratic and 
Republican returns of Florida and Louisiana, with the totals 
as they would appear with either count accepted : 



261 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



STATES. 



T3 



X 
m 

13 



a 
o 
o 
o 



i 

CO 

OS 
6 



o 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

West Virginia 

North Carolina 

South Carolina 

Georgia 

Florida * 

Florida f 

Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana * 

Louisiana f 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Missouri 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

AVisconsin , 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Nebraska 

Kansas 

Colorado:}: 

Nevada 

California 

Oregon 

Total, Republican count. 
Total, Democratic count 



49,917 

38,509 

20,350 

108,777 

10,712 

61,934 

521,949 

115,962 

366,204 

13,381 

91,780 

139,670 

56,495 

125,427 

90.896 

130,088 

22,927 

24,434 

102,989 

112,173 

70,508 

83,723 

104,803 

58,071 

203,077 

133,166 

159,696 

323,182 

141,095 

213,526 

258,601 

123,926 

48,799 

112,121 

17,554 

37,902 

9,308 
76,468 
14,149 



66,300 

41,539 

44,428 

150,063 

15,787 

59,034 

489,207 

103,517 

384,184 

10,752 

71,981 

95,558 

42,046 

108,417 

91,870 

50,446 

23,849 

24,340 

68,708 

52,605 

75,315 

77,174 

44,803 

38,669 

145,029 

89,566 

97,156 

330,698 

166,534 

208,011 

278,232 

130,070 

72,962 

171,326 

31,916 

78,322 



10,383 

78,322 
15,206 



663 
76 

779 
68 

774 
1,987 

712 
7,187 

33 

1,373 



289 
3,498 

1,944 
3,057 
9,060 
17,233 
9,533 
1,509 
2,311 
9,901 
2,320 
7,776 



44 

510 



4,285,992 
4,300,590 



4,033,768 
4,036,298 



81,737 
81,737* 



84 

60 

378 

2,359 
43 

1,319 



10 



64 



818 

1,636 

766 

141 

27 

72 

36 

1,599 

110 



9,522 
9,522 



* Republican count. 



t Democratic count. 
262 



% By Legislature. 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

On the morning after the election, newspapers of all 
parties announced the election of Tilden for President, but 
a murmur of the coming storm came at the same time from 
Senator Chandler, of New Hampshire, who was secretary 
of the national committee, of which Senator Zachariah 
Chandler, of Michigan, was chairman, who announced that 
Hayes was elected, and declared that the States of Florida, 
Louisiana, and South Carolina had honestly voted for Hayes, 
and that he would finally receive their electoral votes. With 
the whole machinery of the Government in the hands of the 
Republicans, it was almost a hopeless battle for Tilden to 
fight for the disputed Southern States, but the Democratic 
people became violently aroused, and threats were freely 
made that the inauguration of Hayes would be prevented 
by mob violence if attempted. 

So grave had the situation become that both branches 
of Congress finally passed an act, creating what was known 
as the Electoral Commission, that should be a tribunal of 
last resort, to determine the disputed election. The bill 
passed the House by the vote of 158 Democrats and 33 
Republicans, with 68 Republicans and 18 Democrats voting 
in the negative ; and in the Senate the bill was passed by the 
votes of 26 Democrats and 21 Republicans, with 16 Repub- 
licans and 1 Democrat voting against it. The measure was 
approved by the President on the 29th of January. As 
a majority of the Democrats in both Houses favored the 
measure, it was assumed that Tilden desired them to support 
it, but in point of fact Tilden was irresolute, and put it upon 
his friends to decide what should be done. Had any other 
man been the Democratic candidate, he would have been 
a great leader and an aggressive one ; but from the beginning 
to the close of the post-election battle Tilden was apparently 
dwarfed into utter helplessness, and when it became ^eyident 
that the Commission would decide against him, he distinctly 
disclaimed all responsibility for the creation of the tribunal. 
The Electoral Commission was finally made up under the 
law, composed of Senators Edmunds, Morton, Freling- 
huysen, Republicans, and Thurman and Bayard, Democrats ; 
of Representatives Payne, Hunton, and Abbott, Democrats, 
and Garfield and Hoar, Republicans, with Justices Strong 
and Miller, Republicans, and Clifford and Field, Democrats, 
and the fifth member of the court to be chosen by the four. 
Justice David Davis was first chosen as the fifth judicial 

263 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

member of the court, but he declined, as he had just been 
elected to the Senate by Illinois, and Justice Bradley was 
then selected to fill his place. Had Davis remained on the 
Commission, it is reasonably certain that the vote of the 
Electoral Commission would have been 8 for Tilden and 
7 for Hayes. This Commission, whose judgment was to be 
final, decided in favor of Hayes on every disputed proposition 
by a vote of 8 to 7, and thus made him President by the 
following electoral vote: 



STATES. 


Hayes. 


Tilden. 


STATES. 


Hayes. 


Tilden. 


Maine 


7 
5 
5 

13 
4 

29 

7 
4 

8 


6 

35 

9 

3 

8 
11 

5 
10 

11 

10 

8 


Texas 


22 

11 

21 
10 
5 
11 
3 
5 
3 
3 
6 
3 


8 


New Hampshire . . . 
Vermont 


Arkansas 


6 


Missouri 


15 


Massachusetts 


Tennessee 


12 


Rhode Island 


Kentucky . . 


12 


Connecticut 


Ohio "... 




New York 


Michigan 


' 


New Jersey 

Pennsylvania 


Indiana 


15 


Illinois 




Delaware 

Maryland 


Wisconsin 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Nebraska 


— 


Virginia 

West Virginia . . . 


— 


North Carolina .... 
South Carolina. . 


Kansas 

Colorado 


— 


Georgia , 


Nevada 




Florida ... . 


California 




Alabama 


Oregon 








Louisiana. . . 


185 


184 







The true history of the struggle for the control of the 
electoral votes of South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana has 
never been written and now never can be fully written. The 
ablest men of both sides attended the contest in those States 
to battle for or against the action of the returning boards. 
All three States had voted for Tilden, but the returning 
boards, which had been created by the carpet-bag rule of the 
South, set aside the returns on the plea of fraud and certified 
the electoral vote for Hayes. The strength of the claim of 
the Democrats was practically admitted after the inaugura- 
tion of Hayes by the President aiding in the adjustments 
which gave the Democrats the Governors and the Legislatures 

264 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

of those States, and ousting the Republicans who had given 
the electoral vote to the President. 

The chief factor in the bold and revolutionary action that 
returned the three States named for the Republican candi- 
date for President was J. Donald Cameron, then Secretary 
of War under President Grant, and later United States Sen- 
ator. He is nothing if not heroic when occasion demands 
it. I remember calling upon him at the Continental Hotel 
a few days after the election, and inquired of him whether he 
really meant to force the reversal of the vote in those States 
and have Hayes returned as elected. He answered with per- 
fect frankness that he had started in to do it, that he meant 
to do it, and that it was right to do it, as the Republicans 
had not opportunity to vote in the South, and the only way 
to meet such frauds was by the strong power of the Govern- 
ment. 

But for the assurance that the army and navy would sus- 
tain the returning boards of those States in whatever they 
did under color of law, the reversal of the popular vote never 
could have been accomplished. The State of Florida was 
manipulated by Robert W. Mackey, who was the most ac- 
complished politician the Republicans have ever produced 
in Pennsylvania. He w r as apparently dying of consumption 
for ten years, and when it became necessary to send some 
competent man to handle Florida, he was selected. He 
started on his mission, and his racking cough and general 
consumptive features gave plausibility to the statement that 
he was going South to nurse his health. Two Democratic 
visiting committeemen were on the same train, and he over- 
heard them mature their plans to hold the State for Tilden. 
He telegraphed to C. D. Brigham, who had been a prominent 
editor and Republican politician in Pittsburg, but who then 
resided in Florida, to meet him at the station, and before the 
Democrats attempted to carry their plans into execution 
they were completely blocked by Mackey, who could sum- 
mon all the Federal officials to his aid. 

Governor Curtin and Senator Sherman met face to face at 
New Orleans in the struggle to win the electoral vote of 
Louisiana, and at one stage of the battle Tilden could have 
secured the vote by telegraphing a single word to Curtin ; but 
Tilden seemed to have lost his cunning, and hesitation was 
exhibited by him at every stage of the conflict when the 
promptest action was indispensable. I visited him at his 

265 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

home in Gramercy Park when the contest was on at white 
heat, and was amazed to find his table covered with legal 
briefs, as though his election depended upon the law that 
would govern before a competent and impartial judicial 
tribunal. He permitted himself and his friends to become 
involved in a compromising way in the Oregon dispute for 
a single elector, and had the same method been adopted in 
Louisiana, he would have won. Instead of discussing the 
situation as it was, he presented to me elaborate arguments 
to show how it should be, and I could not refrain from 
reminding him that he was not dealing with judicial tribu- 
nals nor with honest men, and that he must either meet them 
on their own ground and with their own weapons or he must 
fall in the fight. He seemed to be utterly bewildered, and 
the man who had organized his nomination and election with 
consummate skill shrivelled up into pitiable indecision and 
inaction when he had the power to cast the die for or against 
himself. 

The severe strain upon the popular sentiment of the cqun- 
try that had given Tilden 250,000 majority for President was 
greatly tempered, especially in the South, by a very shrewd 
movement planned early in the after-election contest to con- 
ciliate the leading people of the South. They received posi- 
tive assurances from men very close to Hayes, and who gave 
the assurance of Hayes's approval of the movement, that if 
Hayes should be inaugurated President without violence the 
State governments of Louisiana, Florida, and South Caro- 
lina would' be given to the Democrats. That Hayes ap- 
proved of the plan is evidenced by the fact that after he 
became President he stood resolutely by the promise made 
by his friends to give the Democrats control of the govern- 
ments of those States. 

There was not serious friction in Florida ; the Democratic 
candidate for Governor was allowed to be inaugurated on a 
returned majority of 195 as given by the Supreme Court. 
In South Carolina the face of the returns gave Wade Hamp- 
ton 1 134 majority for Governor, with about a like majority 
for the Democratic Presidential electors, but the Returning 
Board threw out Democratic counties and returned Cham- 
berlain, Republican, as elected Governor by a majority of 
3433, and gave the Republican electors majorities ranging 
from 600 to 900. 

Two Legislatures were organized and two claimants for 

266 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

the Governorship were qualified, but after a long siege, in 
which the friends of Hampton were with difficulty restrained 
from taking violent possession of the Capitol, the Republi- 
cans gave up the contest, as they discovered that President 
Hayes would not support them, and Hampton and his asso- 
ciate Democratic candidates and a Democratic Legislature 
were accepted. 

The great battle was made in Louisiana, where the Return- 
ing Board gave Hayes the State by a majority of 4807, and 
declared the Republican electors chosen by about the same 
majority. The face of the returns gave a majority of 7876 
for Tilden and 8101 for Nichols, Democratic candidate for 
Governor. There, as in South Carolina, two Governors 
were qualified and two Legislatures organized, and Stephen 
B. Packard, who had been counted in as the Republican 
Governor, and had been largely instrumental in giving the 
electoral vote to Hayes, and thereby electing him, demanded 
that the President should sustain him, logically insisting 
that if Hayes was elected Packard was elected, and that if 
Packard must go out Hayes must go out with him. 

The faith of the President and his friends were pledged to 
the people of property in Louisiana that they should have 
their own State government, but it was a most difficult obli- 
gation to discharge. Finally, the President appointed a 
committee of eminent Republicans, two of whom were the 
present Senator Hawley, of Connecticut, and ex-Attorney- 
General Wayne MacVeagh, of Washington, to go to New 
Orleans and solve the problem. The first necessity to accom- 
plish that result was to withdraw enough Senators and Rep- 
resentatives from the Packard Legislature to the Nichols 
Legislature to give Nichols a quorum in both houses of un- 
disputed legislators, as that would leave Packard without a 
Legislature and clothe Nichols's government with all the 
ceremony of law. 

Many of the Packard legislators were negroes, and most 
of them commercial. The change could be effected only by 
purchase, in which the Hawley and MacVeagh committee had 
no part. There were enough and to spare of Packard legis- 
lators who were willing to sell out, but the Democrats were 
impoverished and could not raise money to buy them. One 
of the active men in the movement was Duncan F. Kenner, 
one of the most prominent men in the State for many years, 
and among the Senators in the market was one of his former 

267 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

slaves, who demanded a high price. The State had been 
desolated, business paralyzed, and the people of Louisiana 
had not recovered from the universal waste of war. and while 
they were more than willing to buy enough of the Packard 
men to give Nichols the Legislature, they were absolutely 
without the means to do it. 

In this emergency the Louisiana Lottery Company came 
forward and proposed to furnish the citizens of Xew Or- 
leans, who were managing the movement, all the money thev 
needed on condition that when the Democrats came into 
power and amended the Constitution, they should give the 
Louisiana Lottery a twenty-five-year charter in the Consti- 
tution. It was a hard bargain, but as they could do no bet- 
ter they accepted the proffer, and a very large sum of money 
was thus furnished and paid to the negroes and carpet-bag 
legislators, who were very glad to get under cover with cash 
in their pockets, knowing that the end of carpet-bag rule was 
near at hand. Packard finally found himself abandoned 
by a majority of the undisputed Senators and Representa- 
tives. His administration thus ended, and the promise of 
the friends of Hayes, which Hayes manfully sustained, was 
fully performed, and the property people of the South were 
given their right to govern their own States as the price of 
assenting to Hayes as President. 

The Xichols government kept faith with the Louisiana 
Lottery Company, and the people of Louisiana have ever 
since been unjustly criticised as the only State in the Lnion 
that gave the highest possible charter to a lottery company, 
as they could not explain the inexorable conditions which 
compelled them to do it. This was the last act of the great 
political drama of 1876-77 that made Rutherford B. Hayes 
President. 

The action of Tilden defeating Chase in the Democratic 
convention of 1868 had its sequel with mingled romance and 
reality in the defeat of Tilden for the Presidency in 1877, 
when the vote of Louisiana was passed upon by the Senate. 
Kate Chase Sprague was the most brilliant woman in 
"Washington society during the war period, and in every way 
one of the most attractive. Her home in "Washington was 
the centre of the most accomplished men in public life, and 
among them was Roscoe Conkling. the ablest of the Repub- 
lican Senators. The contest for the Presidency before the 
Electoral Commission in 1876-77 turned on the vote of 

268 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Louisiana, and it required the approving vote of the Senate 
to give the electoral vote of that State to Hayes. Had it 
been given to Tilden, he would have been the President. 
Many believed that Hayes had not been elected and should 
not be declared elected, and among those who shared that 
conviction was Mr. Conkling, although he did not publicly 
express it. 

The Senate was carefully canvassed, and enough Repub- 
lican votes were marshalled to throw the vote of the Senate 
in favor of Tilden on the Louisiana issue if Conkling would 
lead in support of that policy, and it was understood 
that he had agreed to do so. When the crucial time came 
Conkling did not appear at all, and the anti-Hayes Repub- 
licans, being without a leader, fell back to their party lines 
and gave the vote of the State and the Presidential certificate 
to Hayes. It is an open secret that Conkling resolved his 
doubts as urged by Mrs. Sprague, who thereby avenged 
the defeat of her father in the Democratic nomination of 
1868, that had been accomplished by Tilden ; and thus Tilden 
lost the Presidency, to which he had been elected by a popular 
majority of over 250,000. 



THE GARFIELD-HANCOCK CONTEST 

1880 



The greatest battle ever fought in a national convention 
was witnessed at Chicago where the Republican National 
Convention met on June 2, 1880. Grant had made his 
journey around the world, received the homage of the high- 
est rulers of every clime, and returned to be greeted with 
a degree of popular enthusiasm that had never before been 
given to any citizen of the Republic. During Grant's 
absence his friends had made tireless efforts to organize his 
forces in all the States, and the friends of Blaine, who 
fought this battle royal with the friends of Grant, had been 
equally earnest and ceaseless to give Blaine the victory. It 
was indeed a battle of giants, and the auditorium in which 
the convention was held was the most impressive picture 
I have ever witnessed. There were not less than ten thousand 
spectators in addition to the full delegations and alternates 
from the States. Neither of the opposing chieftains ever 
had a majority in the body, but for a week they stood up 
face to face with unbroken lines and belligerent leaders in 
hand-to-hand conflict. 

Among the delegates were Conkling, Garfield, Harrison, 
Logan, and many other conspicuous and able leaders of 
the opposing factions. Blaine's people, with the aid of the 
field, weakened Grant's lines by preventing the unit rule 
in any delegation, whereby Grant lost a considerable number 
of votes in New York, Pennsylvania, and other States. That 
was a test of the distinctive Grant strength in the body. 
Conkling opened the nominations by presenting the name 
of Grant, and he did it in imperial grandeur and with 
a degree of eloquence that was most impressive. Next to 
the speech of Ingersoll, who nominated Blaine in 1876, 
Conkling's appeal for the nomination of Grant will stand 
as the ablest of all the many able deliverances in the history 

270 




JAMES A. GARFIELD 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

of American politics. I sat quite close to him on the platform 
when he delivered it, and he was a most interesting study. 
Had he been as discreet as he was eloquent, it would have 
been a perfect exhibition of impressive oratory ; but Conkling 
was inspired not only by his love of Grant, but more in- 
fluenced than he confessed to himself by an intense hatred 
of Blaine, that he cherished until his death. 

He mortally offended every friend of Blaine, and thereby 
made it impossible even to win the hesitating men in the 
Blaine ranks by his keen and pungent fling at the delegates 
who disregarded their instructions to vote as a unit for 
Grant, and by his aggressive assault upon Blaine when he 
referred to Grant as a candidate " without patronage, without 
emissaries, without committees, without bureaus, without 
telegraph wires running from his house to this convention 
or running from his house anywhere." Unlike the Ingersoll 
speech nominating Blaine in 1876, the speech of Conkling, 
able, eloquent, and grand as it was, left Grant weaker, 
instead of stronger. 

Very general interest centred in General Garfield, who 
was at the head of the Ohio delegation, that was instructed 
for Senator Sherman for President. Garfield knew the 
situation ; he knew that a third candidate must eventually 
be accepted, and he illy concealed his efforts to advance 
himself, while ostensibly struggling for Sherman. His 
speech nominating Sherman was a plea for peace rather 
than an aggressive presentation of Sherman's claims, and 
it was well understood that his plea for peace was, in fact, 
a plea for himself. At various stages of the balloting tidal 
waves of enthusiasm would start for Garfield, and he 
narrowly escaped a spontaneous nomination. He was per- 
sonally very popular, of imposing presence, a most accom- 
plished speaker, and he was finally accepted by the friends 
of Blaine because he was not the partisan of either Blaine 
or Grant, and also because they could certainly win with 
him, and thus defeat Grant. 

The convention became weary of what was evidently an 
equal contest between the Grant and Blaine forces, and all 
who were not intensely enlisted in the factional fight were 
glad to end the bitter struggle by accepting Garfield. Grant's 
memorable 306 stood by him and never lowered their flag 
until they were defeated and fell with their faces to the foe. 

Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, was the permanent 

271 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



president of the convention, and it was a battle of giants, 
lasting well in to the second week. Mr. Joy, who presented 
the name of Blaine to the convention, grievously disappointed 
the friends of the Plutned Knight. His advocacy of his chief 
was tame compared with the masterly orations of Conkling 
and Garfield, but his friends were in admirable fighting trim, 
and no such heroic struggle as that between Blaine and 
Grant has ever been recorded in the history of American 
politics. Conkling was chairman of his delegation, and was 
offensively imperious in every announcement that he made 
to the convention. His delegation had been instructed to 
vote a unit for Grant, but the convention had unshackled 
the delegates by allowing each one to cast his vote according 
to his choice, and Conkling in announcing the vote for 
Blaine in New York always did it with a sneer, and often 
with offensive expression. A ballot was not reached until 
Monday of the second week in the convention, and for two 
days the extraordinary spectacle was presented of Grant 
and Blaine holding their forces with but little variation, 
until the Blaine column finally broke for Garfield. The 
following table presents the ballots in detail : 



BALLOTS. 


2 

tfi 

u 

a 
O 

< 

to 
t) 

B 
a 


G 
nS 
u 



cc 

to 
0) 

to 
to 

$ 


o 

c 
*os 
2 

6 

to 

a 

OS 
>— > 


a 

u 

c-j 

c 

A 

O 
t— » 


6 
c 
(-. 

Xi 

to 

oS 

S 


to 

c 

B 
>b 

ft 

ft 

<D 

bo 

u 
o 
<u 

O 


B 
o 
•o 

a 

i? 

B 
t 


to 

>> 

oS 

ft 

'O 

u 
o 

u 
e 

X! 
+J 

ft 


>. 

u 

a 

u 

o 

o 

<o 

be 
u 
o 

0) 

<3 


to 
a 

d 
o 
O 

<D 
O 
O 
to 

o 

ft 


G 

OS 

oS 

w 

ft 

fl 

.G 
o 


oi 

'> 

OS 

R 

•d 

g 

G 

S 
•d 

ft" 


a 

oS 
.G 

K 

.9* 

!H 
ft 


o 

to 

'(h 
(^ 

OS 

K 
c 
1 

oS 

G 
V 

CQ 


"3 
o 


6 
o 

*o 
A 
o 

a 
o 

u 

<A 

to 
to 

4) 
O 

a> 


1st 

2d 

3d 

4th 

5th 

6th. 

7th 

8th. 

9th 
10th 
11th 
12th 
13th 
14th. 
15th, 


1 
1 

1 
1 
2 
2 
1 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 


304 
305 
305 
305 
305 
305 
305 
306 
308 
305 
305 
304 
305 
305 
309 


284 
282 
282 
281 
281 
280 
281 
284 
282 
282 
281 
283 
285 
285 
281 


93 
94 
93 
95 
95 
95 
94 
91 
90 
92 
93 
92 
89 
89 
88 


31 

31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
32 
32 
32 
32 
33 
33 
35 
36 


34 
32 
32 
32 
32 
32 
32 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 


10 
10 

10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 


1 
1 
1 


1 










1 
1 

1 


755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 


378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 



272 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



BALLOTS, 



16th 

17th 

18th 

19th 

20th 

21st 

22d 

23d 

24th 

25th 

26th 

27th 

28th 

29th 

30th 

31st 

32d. 

33d. 

34th 

35th 

36th 



2 

«3 
U 
o3 



< 

CO 

s 

c3 
t— > 

1 
1 

1 
1 

2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 

17 

50 

399 


c 

o3 
u 



CO 

01 

d) 
to 

CO 

>> 

306 
303 
305 
305 
308 
305 
305 
304 
305 
302 
303 
306 
307 
305 
306 
308 
309 
309 
312 
313 
306 


6 
fl 
'3 

s 

d 

to 
C9 

g 
•— » 

283 
284 
283 
279 
276 
276 
275 
275 
279 
281 
280 
277 
279 
278 
279 
276 
270 
276 
275 
257 
42 


oS 

a 

u 

V 

43 
CO 

a 

43 
O 
•— > 

88 

90 

91 

96 

93 

96 

97 

97 

93 

94 

93 

93 

91 

116 

120 

118 

117 

110 

107 

99 

3 


6 

d 

u 

42 

43 
CO 

o3 

d 

r-t 

H 

36 
36 
35 
32 
35 
35 
35 
36 
35 
35 
36 
36 
35 
35 
33 
37 
44 
44 
30 
23 
5 


c/3 

-d 
C 

a 

■d 

m 
& 

4) 

bfl 
(-. 
o 

CD 

31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
31 
12 
11 
11 
11 
11 
11 
11 


d 

o 
•d 

R 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

7 

4 

3 

3 

4 

4 

3 


CO 
0) 
>-. 

w 

« 

■d 

o 
n-i 
u 
<a 
43 

+5 


o3 

t-c 

O 

o 

CD 

bo 

o 

0) 

O 


bi 

3 
c 

O 

o 

O 

o 

CO 

o 

Pi 
1 


C 
o3 
u 
-u 

o3 

w 

CI 

43 
O 

1 

1 
1 
1 


"> 
o3 
fi 

•d 

CI 

d 

a 

•d 

W 

1 


c 

03 

'Ci 

OJ 

43 
CO 

w 

1 


d 
o 

CO 

'C 

s-l 
o3 

W 

53 

1 

# o3 

'c? 
a 

n 


"3 
+-> 
o 

e 

754 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
755 
756 
756 
755 



378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
378 
379 
379 
378 



While it was generally expected that the convention would 
eventually stampede to Garfield, the movement was given 
vitality and form by the Wisconsin delegation. The only 
name prominently discussed as a compromise candidate in 
addition to that of Garfield was the name of Senator 
Windom, of Minnesota, who had received the vote of his 
State from the start. In a caucus of the delegation a small 
majority of the Wisconsin delegation voted to prefer Garfield 
to Windom, and that movement started the tide that gave 
the victory to Garfield. It is quite possible that if Wisconsin 
had declared for Windom, instead of Garfield, as it failed 
to do by only a very few votes, Windom might have been 
made the candidate, as he occupied a very strong position 
in the party, was free from factional alliances, and probably 
would have been quite as strong a candidate with the people 

273 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

as Garfield. When the Wisconsin delegation decided to 
break the deadlock by accepting Garfield, it opened the door 
for the wearied anti-Grant gladiators to find speedy and 
gratifying refuge. Grant's column stood to him with mar- 
vellous fidelity. He started with 304 votes, never fell below 
302, never rose above 313, and ended on the final ballot 
with 306. The nomination of Garfield was made unanimous 
amidst the wildest enthusiasm. 

Senator Conkling was in violent temper over the defeat 
of Grant, and when he was asked to name a candidate for 
Vice-President he at first petulantly refused to do so, but 
some of his more deliberate friends suggested the name of 
Chester A. Arthur, who was in the delegation. Arthur 
had acted as chairman during part of the balloting when 
Conkling was absent, and his dignified and manly manner 
of announcing the vote of his State contrasted very favorably 
with the offensive manner of Conkling. Conkling assented 
to rather than dictated the nomination of Arthur, and the 
1st ballot for Vice-President was as follows: 

Chester A. Arthur, N. Y... 468 
Elihu B. Washburne, 111. . . 199 

Marshall Jewell, Conn 43 

Horace Maynard, Tenn. ... 30 
Edmund J. Davis, Texas . . 20 

The nomination was promptly made unanimous, 
following platform was unanimously adopted : 

The Republican party in national convention assembled, at the 
end of twenty years since the Federal Government was first commit- 
ted to its charge, submits to the people of the United States this 
brief report of its administration. It suppressed the Rebellion which 
had armed nearly a million of men to subvert the national authority. 
It reconstructed the Union of the States with freedom instead of sla- 
very as its corner-stone. It transformed four millions of human beings 
from the likeness of things to the rank of citizens. It relieved Con- 
gress from the infamous work of hunting fugitive slaves, and 
charged it to see that slavery does not exist. It has raised the value 
of our paper currency from thirty-eight per cent, to the par of gold. 
It has restored upon a solid basis payment in coin for all the national 
obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good and equal 
in every part of our extended country. It has lifted the credit of 
the nation from the point where six per cent, bonds sold at eighty- 
six per cent, to that where four per cent, bonds are eagerly sought 
at a premium. Under its administration railways have increased 
from thirty-one thousand miles in i860 to more than eighty-two 
thousand miles in 1879. Our foreign trade has increased from seven 
hundred million dollars to one billion, one hundred and fifty million 
dollars in the same time, and our exports, which were twenty mil- 



Blanche K. Bruce (Col.), 

Miss 8 

James L. Alcorn, Miss 4 

Thomas Settle, Fla 2 

Stewart L. Woodford, N. Y. 1 

The 



274 




CHESTER A. ARTHUR 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

lion dollars less than our imports in i860, were two hundred and 
sixty-four million more than our imports in 1879. Without resort- 
ing to loans, it has, since the war closed, defrayed the ordinary 
expenses of government besides the accruing interest on the public 
debt, and has annually disbursed more than thirty million dollars 
for soldiers' pensions. It has paid eight hundred and eighty-eight 
million dollars of the public debt, and, by refunding the balance at 
lower rates, has reduced the annual interest charge from nearly one 
hundred and fifty-one million dollars to less than eighty-nine mil- 
lion dollars. All the industries of the country have revived, labor 
is in demand, wages have increased, and throughout the entire coun- 
try there is evidence of a coming prosperity greater than we have 
ever enjoyed. 

Upon this record the Republican party asks for the continued con- 
fidence and support of the people, and this convention submits for 
their approval the following statement of the principles and purposes 
which will continue to guide and inspire its efforts : 

1. We affirm that the work of the last twenty-one years has been 
such as to commend itself to the favor of the nation, and that the 
fruits of the costly victories which we have achieved through im- 
mense difficulties should be preserved ; that the peace regained 
should be cherished; that the dissevered Union, now happily re- 
stored, should be perpetuated, and that the liberties secured to this 
generation should be transmitted undiminished to future genera- 
tions ; that the order established and the credit acquired should 
never be impaired; that the pensions promised should be extin- 
guished by the full payment of every dollar thereof ; that the reviving 
industries should be further promoted, and that the commerce, 
already so great, should be steadily encouraged. 

2. The Constitution of the United States is a supreme law, and 
not a mere contract; out of confederated States it made a sovereign 
nation. Some powers are denied to the nation, while others are denied 
to the States ; but the boundary between the powers delegated and 
those reserved is to be determined by the national, and not by the 
State tribunals. 

3. The work of popular education is one left to the care of the sev- 
eral States, but it is the duty of the National Government to aid that 
work to the extent of its constitutional duty. The intelligence of 
the nation is but the aggregate of the intelligence in the several 
States, and the destiny of the nation must be guided, not by the 
genius of any one State, but by the average genius of all. 

4. The Constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law 
respecting an establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope that 
the nation can be protected against the influences of sectarianism 
while each State is exposed to its domination. We therefore recom- 
mend that the Constitution be so amended as to lay the same pro- 
hibition upon the Legislature of each State, and to forbid the appro- 
priation of public funds to the support of sectarian schools. 

5. We affirm the belief avowed in 1876, that the duties levied for 
the purpose of revenue should so discriminate as to favor American 
labor ; that no further grant of the public domain should be made 
to any railway or other corporation; that, slavery having perished 
in the States, its twin barbarity, polygamy, must die in the Terri- 
tories ; that everywhere the protection accorded to citizens of Ameri- 

275 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

can birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption; and 
that we esteem it the duty of Congress to develop and improve our 
watercourses and harbors, but insist that further subsidies to private 
persons or corporations must cease; that the obligations of the 
Republic to the men who preserved its integrity in the hour of battle 
are undiminished by the lapse of the fifteen years since their final 
victor}- — to do them perpetual honor is, and shall forever be, the 
grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people. 

6. Since the authority to regulate immigration and intercourse 
between the United States and foreign nations rests with Congress, 
or with the United States and its treaty-making powers, the Repub- 
lican party, regarding the unrestricted immigration of the Chinese 
as an evil of great magnitude, invoke the exercise of those powers 
to restrain and limit that immigration by the enactment of such just, 
humane and reasonable provisions as will produce that result. 

7. That the purity and patriotism which characterized the earlier 
career of Rutherford B. Hayes in peace and war, and which guided 
the thoughts of our immediate predecessors to him for a Presiden- 
tial candidate, have continued to inspire him in his career as Chief 
Executive, and that history will accord to his administration the 
honors which are due to an efficient, just, and courteous discharge 
of the public business, and will honor his interposition between the 
people and proposed partisan laws. 

We charge upon the Democratic party the habitual sacrifice of 
patriotism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust of office and 
patronage; that to obtain possession of the national and State 
Governments and the control of place and position they have 
obstructed all efforts to promote the purity and to conserve the 
freedom of suffrage, and have devised fraudulent certifications and 
returns ; have labored to unseat lawfully elected members of Con- 
gress, to secure at all hazards the vote of a majority of the States 
in the House of Representatives ; have endeavored to occupy by 
force and fraud the places of trust given to others by the people of 
Maine, and rescued by the courageous action of Maine's patriotic 
sons ; have, by methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in prac- 
tice, attached partisan legislation to appropriation bills, upon whose 
passage the very movements of the Government depend, and have 
crushed the rights of individuals ; have advocated the principles 
and sought the favor of rebellion against the nation, and have 
endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories of the war, and to 
overcome its inestimably valuable results of nationality, personal 
freedom, and individual equality. 

The equal, steady, and complete enforcement of laws and the 
protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment cf all privileges and 
immunities guaranteed by the Constitution, are the first duties of 
the nation. The dangers of a solid South can only be averted by a 
faithful performance of every promise which the nation has made 
to the citizen. The execution of the laws and the punishment of 
all those who violate them are the only safe methods by which an 
enduring peace can be secured and genuine prosperity established 
throughout the South. Whatever promises the nation makes, the 
nation must perform, and the nation cannot with safety delegate 
this duty to the States. The solid South must be divided by the 
peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all opinions must there find 

2j6 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

free expression, and to this end the honest voter must be protected 
against terrorism, violence, or fraud. 

. And we affirm it to be the duty and the purpose of the Republican 
party to use every legitimate means to restore all the States of this 
Union to the most perfect harmony that may be practicable; and 
we submit it to the practical, sensible people of the United States 
to say whether it would not be dangerous to the dearest interests 
of our country at this time to surrender the administration of the 
National Government to the party which seeks to overthrow the 
existing policy under which we are so prosperous, and thus bring 
distrust and confusion where there are now order, confidence, and 
hope. 

The Republican party, adhering to principles affirmed by its last 
national convention of respect for the constitutional rule covering 
appointments to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes, 
that the reform of the civil service should be thorough, radical, and 
complete. To this end it demands the co-operation of the legislative 
with the executive department of the Government, and that Congress 
shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper, practical tests, 
shall admit to the public service. 

. General Grant had become intensely interested in the con- 
test for a third term, and he had every reason to believe that 
it would be accorded to him. Foreign travel and intelligent 
observation had greatly enlarged his narrow political ideas 
and tempered his political asperities, and he would undoubt- 
edly have made a much better President than ever he did 
before. But the unwritten law of the nation confronted 
him, declaring that no man could fill the Presidential chair 
for a longer period than did George Washington. It was 
that sentiment that decided the contest against him. 

He was at his home in Galena, not far from Chicago, dur- 
ing the sessions of the convention, but while he was advised 
of what transpired from day to day, he gave no directions and 
made no suggestions to his friends. He had the ablest gal- 
axy of leaders that ever appeared in a national convention 
in support of any one candidate, and he trusted them im- 
plicitly. On the morning after the convention adjourned he 
came to Chicago, and I met him at the Palmer House, where 
he had come to confer with his discomfited friends. His 
face gave no sign of the disappointment he had suffered. 
He met his friends in even a more genial way than was his 
custom. He expressed himself as entirely content with the 
decision of the convention, and greatly appreciated the sup- 
port that had been given him. He never looked better in 
his life, and while I could not congratulate him, I could 
truthfully express my gratification at seeing him the picture 
of health and comfort. 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

He was then in entire accord with his leading friends in 
their purpose to prevent the election of Garfield, and for two 
months after the campaign opened Garfield would have been 
overwhelmingly beaten, but after Conkling's conference with 
Garfield in Ohio, Grant's friends gave a most zealous support 
to Garfield's election, and barely saved him by the aid of 
Tammany's betrayal of Hancock. 

The Democratic National Convention met at Cincinnati "on 
the 22d of June, with John W. Stevenson, of Kentucky, as 
permanent president. The dispute over contested seats 
lasted until the second day. Massachusetts, that had never 
voted for a Democratic candidate for President, put up the 
fiercest fight between disputing delegations, and New York 
had a bitter factional quarrel between delegations chosen by 
the regular Democrats and another chosen by the Tammany 
people. The Tammany followers, under the lead of John 
Kelly, were very vindictive in their opposition to Tilden, 
openly declaring that they would not support Tilden if nomi- 
nated, and the Tammany delegation was rejected. ■ The 
position of Tilden was regarded as doubtful until well on in 
the second day of the contest, when an elaborate letter from 
him was read to the convention withdrawing his name. The 
letter had been prepared by Tilden and given to a trusted 
friend to use it only if it became evident that Tilden could 
not be again nominated, or that he could not be elected if 
nominated. The judgment of his most dispassionate friends 
was that he might be nominated, but that he could not be 
elected, with the fierce opposition of Tammany and his fail- 
ure to assert his right to the Presidency in 1877. 

After Tilden'* s withdrawal the contest was really between 
Hancock and Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania. If the 
Tilden strength had been concentrated on Randall at the 
opening of the convention, his nomination would have been 
within the range of probability, but even after Tilden with- 
drew he hesitated until the 2d ballot before he gave Ran- 
dall any support. Bayard was a close second to Hancock 
on the 1st ballot, but he was at no time within sight of a 
nomination. 

It was on this occasion that the late Daniel Dougherty 
made the most eloquent speech of his life, presenting the 
name of Hancock to the convention. He was not a member 
of the delegation, but was called into it for the purpose on 
the morning of the day that the nomination was to be made. 

278 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



He hurried around to my room at the St. Nicholas, as he 
hesitated about accepting the duty assigned him. He always 
prepared his important speeches and memorized them. I 
earnestly urged him to go at once to his room and write a 
short speech and be prepared to deliver it. He finally de- 
cided to do so, and in a speech of not over twenty minutes 
he delivered the greatest oration of his life. 

Only two ballots were had for President, and on the sec- 
ond Hancock was so largely in the lead, having 320 to 128 J 
for Randall, that the delegations began to change their votes 
until Hancock had 705 to 33 for all others. The following 
table gives the ballots in detail : 



CANDIDATES. 


First. 


Second. 


After 
changes. 


Thomas F. Bayard, Delaware 


171 

153^ 
81 

68K 

65 

62 

38 
8 

31 


320 
113 

50 
65^ 

31 
6 

128^ 
22 


705 
2 


Henry B. Payne, Ohio 




Allen G. Thurman, Ohio 

Stephen T. Field, California 


— 


William R. Morrison, Illinois 




Thomas A. Hendricks, Indiana 


30 


Samuel J. Tilden, New York 

Samuel J. Randall, Pennsylvania 


1 


Scattering 









As Indiana was one of the debatable States, William H. 
English, of that State, was nominated for Vice-President, 
with only Richard M. Bishop, of Ohio, named against him. 
Before the ballot had proceeded to any considerable extent, 
Bishop's name was withdrawn, and English given a unani- 
mous nomination. The following platform was unani- 
mously adopted : 

The Democrats of the United States, in convention assembled, 
declare — 

1. We pledge ourselves anew to the constitutional doctrines and 
traditions of the Democratic party, as illustrated by the teachings 
and example of a long line of Democratic statesmen and patriots, 
and embodied in the platform of the last national convention of the 
party. 

2. Opposition to centralizationism and to that dangerous spirit of 
encroachment which tends to consolidate the powers of all the 
departments in one, and thus to create, whatever be the form of 
government, a real despotism. No sumptuary laws ; separation of 



279 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Church and State for the good of each ; common schools fostered 
and protected. 

3. Home rule ; honest money, consisting of gold and silver, and 
paper convertible into coin on demand; the strict maintenance of 
the public faith, State and national ; and a tariff for revenue only. 

4. The subordination of the military to the civil power, and 
a general and thorough reform of the civil service. 

5. The right to a free ballot is the right preservative of all rights, 
and must and shall be maintained in every part of the United States. 

6. The existing administration is the representative of conspiracy 
only, and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops 
and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the electors, and 
the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and 
despotic power, insult the people and imperil their institutions. 

7. The grand fraud of 1876-77, by which, upon a false count of 
the electoral votes of two States, the candidate defeated at the polls 
was declared to be President, and, for the first time in American 
history, the will of the people was set aside under a threat of mili- 
tary violence, struck a deadly blow at our system of representative 
government ; the Democratic party, to preserve the country from 
a civil war, submitted for a time in firm and patriotic faith that the 
people would punish this crime in 1880 ; this issue precedes and 
dwarfs every other; it imposes a more sacred duty upon the people 
of the Union than ever addressed the conscience of a nation of 
freemen. 

8. We execrate the course of this administration in making places 
in the civil service a reward for political crime, and demand a reform 
by statute which shall make it forever impossible for the defeated 
candidate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting 
villains upon the people. 

9. The resolution of Samuel T. Tilden not again to be a candidate 
for the exalted place to which he was elected by a majority of his 
countrymen, and from which he was excluded by the leaders of 
the Republican party, is received by the Democrats of the United 
States with sensibility, and they declare their confidence in his 
wisdom, patriotism, and integrity, unshaken by the assaults of 
a common enemy, and they further assure him that he is followed 
into the retirement he has chosen for himself by the sympathy and 
respect of his fellow-citizens, who regard him as one who, by 
elevating the standards of public morality, merits the lasting grati- 
tude of his country and his party. 

10. Free ships and a living chance for American commerce on the 
seas and on the land. No discrimination in favor of transportation 
lines, corporations, or monopolies. 

11. Amendment of the Burlingame treaty. No more Chinese 
immigration, except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, 
and therein carefully guarded. 

12. Public money and public credit for public purposes solely, and 
public land for actual settlers. 

13. The Democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring 
man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorant 
and the commune. 

14. We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of 
a Democratic Congress, which has reduced the public expenditure 
forty million dollars a year; upon the continuation of prosperity at 

280 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

home and the national honor abroad ; and, above all, upon the 
promise of such a change in the administration of the Government 
as shall insure us genuine and lasting reform in every department 
of the public service. 

The National Greenback party held its national convention 
at Chicago on the 9th of June, with Richard Trevellick, of 
Michigan, as permanent president. A single ballot was had 
for President, resulting as follows : 



Solon Chase, Maine 89 

Edward P. Allis, Wis 41 

Alexander Campbell, 111 . . . 21 



James B. Weaver, Iowa . . 224*^ 
Henry B. Wright, Penn. . 126}f 
Stephen D. Dillaye, N. Y. 119 
Benj. F. Butler, Mass 95 

Before the vote was finally announced delegations speedily 
changed their votes to Weaver, and he was declared unani- 
mously chosen as the candidate. B. B. Chambers, of Texas, 
was nominated for Vice-President by 403 votes to 311 for 
Allanson M. West, of Mississippi. The following platform 
was adopted : 

1. That the right to make and issue money is a sovereign power 
to be maintained by the people for the common benefit. The dele- 
gation of this right to corporations is a surrender of the central 
attribute of sovereignty, void of constitutional sanction, conferring 
upon a subordinate irresponsible power absolute dominion over 
industry and commerce. All money, whether metallic or paper, 
should be issued and its volume controlled by the Government, and 
not by or through banking corporations, and, when so issued, should 
be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private. 

2. That the bonds of the United States should not be refunded, 
but paid as rapidly as practicable, according to contract. To enable 
the Government to meet these obligations, legal tender currency 
should be substituted for the notes of the national banks, the national 
banking system abolished, and the unlimited coinage of silver, as 
well as gold, established by law. 

3. That labor should be so protected by national and State au- 
thority as to equalize its burdens and insure a just distribution 
of its results ; the eight-hour law of Congress should be enforced ; 
the sanitary condition of industrial establishments placed under 
rigid control ; the competition of contract labor abolished ; a bureau 
of labor statistics established; factories, mines, and workshops in- 
spected; the employment of children under fourteen years of age 
forbidden ; and wages paid in cash. 

4. Slavery being simply cheap labor, and cheap labor being simply 
slavery, the importation and presence of Chinese serfs necessarily 
tends to brutalize and degrade American labor; therefore imme- 
diate steps should be taken to abrogate the Burlingame treaty. 

5. Railroad land grants forfeited by reason of non-fulfilment of 
contract should be immediately reclaimed by Government; and 
henceforth the public domain reserved exclusively as homes for 
actual settlers. 

281 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

6. It is the duty of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. 
All lines of communication and transportation should be brought 
under such legislative control as shall secure moderate, fair, and 
uniform rates for passenger and freight traffic. 

_ 7. We denounce, as destructive to prosperity and dangerous to 
liberty, the action of the old parties in fostering and sustaining 
gigantic land, railroad, and money corporations, invested with, and 
exercising, powers belonging to the Government, and yet not re- 
sponsible to it for the manner of their exercise. 

8. That the Constitution, in giving Congress the power to borrow 
money, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and 
maintain a navy, never intended that the men who loaned their 
money for an interest consideration should be preferred to the sol- 
dier and sailor who perilled their lives and shed their blood on 
land and sea in defence of their country ; and we condemn the 
cruel class legislation of the Republican party, which, while pro- 
fessing great gratitude to the soldier, has most unjustly discrimi- 
nated against him and in favor of the bondholder. 

9. All property should bear its just proportion of taxation; and 
we demand a graduated income tax. 

10. We denounce as most dangerous the efforts everywhere man- 
ifest to restrict the right of suffrage. 

11. We are opposed to an increase of the standing army in time 
of peace, and the insidious scheme to establish an enormous mili- 
tary power under the guise of militia laws. 

12. We demand absolute democratic rules for the government of 
Congress, placing all representatives of the people upon an equal 
footing, and taking away from committees a veto power greater than 
that of the President. 

13. We demand a government of the people, by the people, and 
for the people, instead of a government of the bondholders, by the 
bondholders, and for the bondholders ; and we denounce every 
attempt to stir up sectional strife as an effort to conceal monstrous 
crimes against the people. 

14. In the furtherance of these ends, we ask the co-operation of 
all fair-minded people. We have no quarrel with individuals, wage 
no war upon classes, but only against vicious institutions. We 
are not content to endure further discipline from our present actual 
rulers, who, having dominion over money, over transportation, over 
land and labor, and largely over the press and the machinery of 
government, wield unwarrantable power over our institutions, and 
over our life and property. 

15. That every citizen of due age, sound mind, and not a felon, 
be fully enfranchised, and that this resolution be referred to the 
States, with recommendation for their favorable consideration. 



The Prohibition convention met at Cleveland on the 17th 
of June. The platform was substantially a repetition of the 
platform of 1876, and General Neal Dow, of Maine, was 
presented for President, and A. M. Thompson, of Ohio, for 
Vice-President. 

282 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

The few scattered fragments of the American party held 
a convention on the 27th of June, and nominated John W. 
Phelps, of Vermont, for President, and Samuel C. Pomeroy, 
of Kansas, for Vice-President. Their platform declared 
against secret societies, Freemasonry in particular, and all 
other anti-Christian movements. The party was not heard 
of in the contest. 

The Presidential contest of 1880 was remarkable for the 
absence of bitterness or vituperation. Garfield and Hancock 
were both highly respected, and I cannot recall a struggle 
for the Presidency that exhibited less of the asperities which 
are usually displayed in the struggle for the political control 
of the nation. Hancock was beaten on the popular vote by 
a majority of but little over 7000, and he lost his election 
by Tammany failing to give him a cordial support in New 
York. 

The following table presents the popular and electoral 
vote of 1880 : 



STATES. 



Maine , 

New Hampshire 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . . 

Rhode Island 

Connecticut 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania . . , 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 

West Virginia. ., 
North Carolina. , 
South Carolina. , 

Georgia 

Florida 



Popular Vote. 



o 

u . 

cS O 

O^ 
JO 



74,039 

44,852 

45,567 

165,205 

18,195 

67,071 

555,544 

120,555 

444,704 

14,133 

78,515 

84,020 

46,243 

115,874 

58,071 

54,086 

23,654 






65,171* 

40,794 

18,316 

111,960 

10,779 

64,415 

534,511 

122,565 

407,428 

15,275 

93,706 

128,586t 

57,391 

124,208 

112,312 

102,470 

27,964 



9) 
> 

B 



4,408 
528 

1,215 

4,548 

236 

868 

12,373 

2,617 

20,668 

120 

818 

9,079 

1,126 

566 

969 



93 

180 

682 
20 

409 
1,517 

191 
1,939 



Electoral 
Vote. 



5 
5 

13 
4 
6 

35 

29 



11 
5 

10 
7 

11 
4 



* Votes for a fusion electoral ticket, made up of three Democrats and four 
Greenbackers. A "straight " Greenback ticket was also voted for. 

+ Two Democratic tickets were voted for in Virginia. The regular ticket 
received 96,912, and was successful; the " Readjusters " polled 31,674 votes. 



283 



OUR PRESIDENTS 







Popular Vote. 




Electoral 
Vote. 




•a 


a 
o 


.- 


•J 








-. 


= 


> 


— 






STATES. 


- 




- 


m 








- z 


- z 


T. 


S 








'J- 

X 


■ - 
'Jl s 

-- 

■- 


: 


2 






-.. 


= 


« 






o 




S 


= 




Z 


- 


= 



Ala.a-a 
Mississitr : 
L :u:s:ar.a. 

Texas 

Arkansas. 
2-_':5$:uri . . 
I rr-ejfe: 
Kentutkv. . 

Ohio 

Mi:r.iga-. 
In liana. . . . 

Illinois 

Wis :o~s:r 
Minnesota . 

Iowa 

Nebraska . 

Kansas 

C:0:rat:.. 
Nevada.... 
Calif: :r:_ 
Oregon..... 



34.5c4 

ss.e-sr- 

-.-;•? 

42.436 
::5.v: 
107 677 
106,306 

575.04s 

IS-: £41 
2i2.1:4 

s:».os: 

144.4V 
93,909 

181 ;: 

54.979 
121.549 

27.4 V 

S.7S2 

SO :4S 



oi.isc 

• o. i 50 

65,067 

156,428 

60 7*o 

266,603 

128 191 

140 >:s 

S40.S21 
131. ■:■"■: 
225.522 
277 321 
114.649 
53.315 

::-5.*45 

2v=2; 

c-.soi 

24:47 
9.613 

SO. 42: 

i^s 



Totals 4.454.416 4.444.952 



5.797 
439 

27.405 
4,079 

35.135 

5.017 

11.40;- 

0.4:0 
34, 995 

12.^0 

2 t.SoS 

7. OS: 

£2.':: 

S.^cO 

lO.Sci 

1.4:-: 

>.i72 
249 



43 

-:- 
2,616 

;-42 

443 

■:} 
2 so 

592 

~a f 



22 
11 
15 
21 
10 

5 
11 

3 



308,578 10,305 2.4 



10 

s 

8 
8 
6 

15 

12 
12 



155 



* Two Republican tickets -were voted for. 

Garfield possessed more political honors at one time than 
any other public man in the history of the country. After 
the November election of 1880, he was the Congressman 
from his district ; he was United States Senator-elect, having 
been chosen by the Ohio Legislature in January of the same 
year, and he was President-elect. He had many elements 
of popularity, but was not a courageous leader like Blaine. 
He was not a strong, aggressive man, although able in 
debate and one of the most scholarly of our public men. He 
had a most difficult role to fill when he came into the 
Presidency. Conkling wholly distrusted him when Garfield 
was first nominated for President, as was clearly evidenced 
by Conkling failing to call upon Garfield when Garfield 
made his first visit to New York after the Chicago conven- 
tion, although he stopped at the same hotel where Conkling 



284 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

was a guest. Later in the campaign Conkling was earnestly 
urged to visit Garfield, and he made the visit, resulting in 
the Conkling and Grant forces earnestly supporting Gar- 
field's election. 

General Grant, for the first time in his life, took the stump 
to aid the Garfield cause ; but even after having turned the 
tide in favor of Garfield's election, Conkling knew that 
Garfield was not a self-reliant leader, and after the appoint- 
ment of Blaine to the Cabinet, with whom Conkling had no 
relations whatever, private or official, Conkling had little 
confidence in Garfield fulfilling his pledges made to the 
friends of Grant. The open breach came when Garfield 
nominated Robertson for Collector of New York. Robertson 
was one of the New York delegates to Chicago who voted 
against Grant, and was one of the most aggressive anti- 
Conkling men in the State. This appointment was at once 
charged upon Blaine, but the evidence is conclusive that it 
was made by Garfield alone, without even a suggestion from 
Blaine, who certainly did not desire to precipitate a war 
between the administration of which he was Premier and 
so formidable a political factor as Conkling. It was simply 
Garfield's blunder, made in haste, and it proved very clearly 
that he was not equipped to meet the political exigencies 
which confronted him. Conkling blundered even worse than 
Garfield. He petulantly resigned his seat in the Senate, in 
which his colleague, Senator Piatt (now Senator from New 
York), joined him, although he had served but a fraction 
of a year of his full term. 

Conkling confidently hoped to be re-elected by the New 
York Legislature, and he doubtless would have succeeded 
had not the presiding officer of the Senate, by a very shrewd 
and simple parliamentary act, postponed the election a week 
longer than Conkling expected. That delay was fatal, and 
a protracted and humiliating contest was made by Conkling 
and Piatt, each weak, both losing prestige and support, until 
finally the Republicans of the New York Legislature were 
compelled to cast them both aside and elect new Senators. 
Vice-President Arthur stood manfully abreast with Conkling, 
his friend, in his battle at Albany for re-election, but after 
the failure on the 1st ballot there never was a time when the 
re-election of Conkling and Piatt was possible. Conkling 
retired from politics utterly disgusted, located in New 
York, where he very rapidly acquired a lucrative practice, 

285 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

and his tragic death from exposure in the great blizzard of 
1888 ended the career of one of the ablest of the statesmen 
of his day. 

Arthur was the fourth Vice-President who succeeded to 
the Presidency by the death of the President, and he was 
the second whose honors had come to him by the assassina- 
tion of his chief. The accession of Arthur created very 
general distrust in both business and political circles. He 
was little known beyond his factional conflicts in Xew York, 
having been removed from a leading Custom House office 
by Secretary Sherman. That removal was sustained by the 
Republican Senate in defiance of the power of Conkling. 
It was generally assumed that the administration of Arthur, 
under the lead of Conkling, would be one of political ven- 
geance, and of necessity convulse the party and end Repub- 
lican power in the nation. 

Business interests were disturbed because they feared that 
Arthur would be a political President with little exhibition 
of statesmanship, but Arthur rose to the full measure of 
his responsible duties. While he moved with great caution, 
to avoid a breach with his own friends, he soon offended 
Conkling, and gradually won the confidence and respect of 
the nation to an extent that few Presidents have enjoyed. 
The Garfield administration had been started on lines that 
Arthur could not follow, and the retirement of the Garfield 
Cabinet, with the exception of Robert T. Lincoln, then 
Secretary of War, was soon accomplished. The prosecution 
of the Star-Route Postal frauds was the one thing on which 
Blaine and MacYeagh, the Attorney-General, had decided 
to make a creditable record for the administration, and while 
Arthur was quite as honest as Garfield, political necessities 
compelled him to discourage those prosecutions. Beyond" 
that there was not a blemish on his administration of some 
three years and a half. He appreciated the fact that the 
President should be above the rule of faction, and in that 
he early offended Conkling. He nominated Conkling as 
Supreme Judge of the United States, but Conkling peremp- 
torily rejected it, and thenceforth the relations between 
Arthur and Conkling were severely strained. 

Arthur was the one of the four Yice-Presidents succeeding 
to the Presidency who did not change the policy of the 
administration. He gradually won the esteem of all parties 
in the land by his dignity, courtesy, and manliness in every 

286 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

emergency that confronted him. He was one of the most 
genial and delightful of all the Presidents who occupied the 
White House, and he would doubtless have been nominated 
for President in 1884 but for the fact that Blaine had that 
honor safely mortgaged. Arthur was desirous of a nomina- 
tion, but Blaine was so strong with the leaders and also with 
the rank and file of the party that he won an easy victory 
over the President. 

The opposition to Arthur in the Republican convention 
of 1884 was not inspired by hostility to him or to his 
administration. It was simply the overwhelming Republican 
sentiment of the country that demanded Blaine as the party 
candidate for President. I had met President Arthur fre- 
quently during his Presidential term, although I never had 
any political or personal interests to serve. It was always 
a pleasure to call upon him and enjoy the dignified and 
cordial welcome he ever gave to visitors. I last saw him 
on the night of the Cleveland inauguration day, that closed 
his Presidential term. He was the guest of honor at a dinner 
given by Senator Cameron, and I was painfully impressed 
with what I then assumed to be the keen disappointment of 
Arthur at his retirement from the Presidency. He seemed 
greatly depressed in spirit and to lack his usual genial and 
fascinating qualities. It was not long after, however, when 
it became known that he had retired from the Presidential 
office the victim of a fatal disease, that exhausted his vitality. 
He lived a very quiet life, beloved by all who knew him 
and respected by the whole nation during the brief period 
between his retirement and his death. 



THE CLEVELAND-BLAINE CONTEST 

1884 

The Presidential campaign of 1884 was opened on June 
5 by the Republican National Convention at Chicago, which 
nominated Blaine after the Arthur administration had made 
a feeble struggle against him. Strange as it may seem, 
Blaine took much less interest in his nomination at that time 
than he had in his contests of 1876 and 1880. He was pain- 
fully impressed by the conviction that he was fated not to 
be President, and he feared his defeat. A recent article by 
ex-Governor Boutwell, of Massachusetts, who was then in 
Congress with Blaine, stated that a short time before the 
meeting of the convention, when Blaine knew that the nomi- 
nation was within his own hands, he told Boutwell that he 
was glad to have some votes in the convention, but that he 
did not wish the nomination. He desired to defeat Presi- 
dent Arthur, and urged Boutwell to organize for the nomi- 
nation of General Sherman for President and Robert Lin- 
coln for Vice-President. 

I saw Blaine frequently during the months preceding the 
nomination, and he never exhibited any special gratification 
at the fact that he could then, for the first time, surely attain 
the leadership in his party for which he had so long strug- 
gled ; but he had not the courage to decline it. The nomi- 
tion came to him, and though he did not heartily welcome it, 
he was justly proud of it. 

The contest between Cleveland and Blaine was one of the 
most spirited and earnest of our national political struggles. 
The assassination of Garfield and the factional troubles 
which arose under Garfield, and continued to some extent 
under Arthur, greatly disturbed Republican tranquillity, and 
in 1882 the Democrats won all the debatable States and car- 
ried the popular branch of Congress. Grover Cleveland in 
that year became a national political factor by his election as 

288 



1 


139 ' t 




- i 






f 


IT 


^m : JSmBM 


- ..^■^■■rT ■ ■ 



GROVER CLEVELAND 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



Governor of New York by nearly 200,000 majority. Blaine 
had the vital Republican element very earnestly in his sup- 
port, but had to confront the implacable opposition of many 
of the ablest leaders of his party. He had already been a 
candidate before two Republican conventions, in which his 
enemies had defamed him without limit, and the Grant influ- 
ence was as vindictive, although not so powerful, in 1884 as 
it was in 1876 and 1880. 

The Republican National Convention met at Chicago on 
the 3d of June, and ex-Representative John R. Lynch, of 
Mississippi (colored), was made temporary president, and 
ex-Senator John B. Henderson, of Missouri, permanent 
president. The friends of President Arthur, largely represent- 
ing Federal officials, made a very earnest battle for their 
chief, but it was a Blaine convention from start to finish. 
Many questions of party policy and rules were discussed 
and a platform adopted during the first three days of the 
convention, and it was not until the evening session of the 
third day that Presidential candidates were presented. On 
the morning of the fourth day, the convention proceeded to 
ballot, resulting in the nomination of Blaine, as follows : 



James G. Blaine, of Maine 

Chester A. Arthur, of New York. . 
George F. Edmunds, of Vermont. . 

John A. Logan, of Illinois 

John Sherman, of Ohio 

Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut 

Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois 

William T. Sherman, of Missouri.. 



First. 


Second. 


Third. 


334^ 

278 


349 
276 


375 
274 


93 


85 


69 


63^ 
30 


61 

28 


53 
25 


13 


13 


13 


4 


4 


8 


2 


2 


2 



Fourth. 



541 

207 

41 

7 

15 
2 



The nomination of Blaine was made unanimous with great 
enthusiasm. The convention then adjourned until evening, 
when General John A. Logan, of Illinois, was nominated for 
Vice-President on the 1st ballot, receiving 779 votes to 7 
for Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, and 6 for Walter Q. 
Gresham, of Indiana. General Logan was regarded as one 
of the most prominent of the Grant leaders, and it was con- 
sidered good policy to unite the two elements of the party 
by giving him second place. His nomination was also made 
unanimous, and cheered to the echo. The following plat- 
form was unanimously adopted : 

289 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

i. The Republicans of the United States, in national convention 
assembled, renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they 
have triumphed in six successive Presidential elections, and con- 
gratulate the American people on the attainment of so many results 
in legislation and administration by which the Republican party 
has. after saving the Union, done so much to render its institut::r.r 
just, equal, and benefker.:. the safeguard of liberty, and the embodi- 
ment of the best thought and highest purposes of our citizens. The 
Republican party has gained its strength by quick and faithful 
response to the demands of the people for the freedom and equality 
of all men ; for a united nation, assuring the rights of all citizens ; 
for the elevation of labor ; for an honest currency ; for purity in 
legislation ; and for integrity and accountability in all departments 
of the Government. And it accepts anew the duty of leading in 
the work of progress and reform. 

2. We lament the death of President Garfield, whose sound states- 
manship, long conspicuous in Congress, gave promise of a strong 
and successful administration, a promise fully realized during the 
short period of his office as President of the United States. His 
distinguished sen-ices in war and in peace have endeared him to 
the hearts of the American people. 

3. In the administration of President Arthur we recognize a 
vise, conservative, and patriotic policy, under which the country 

has been blessed with remarkable prosperity-; and we believe his 
eminent services are entitled to and will receive the heart}- appro- 
val of ever}- good citizen. 

4. It is the first duty of a good Government to protect the rights 
and promote the interests of its own people. The largest diversity 
c: industry is most productive of general prosperity and of the com- 
fort and independence of the people. We therefore demand that 
the imposition of duties on foreign imports shall be made, not for 
revenue only, but that, in raising the requisite revenues for the Gov- 
ernment, such duties shall be so levied as to afford security to our 
diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the 
laborers, to the end that active and intelligent labor, as well as capi- 
tal, may have its just reward, and the laboring man his full share 
in the national prosperity 

5. Against the so-called economical system of the Democratic 
party-, which would degrade our labor to the foreign standard, we 
enter our most earnest protest. The Democratic party has failed 
completely to relieve the people of the burden of unnecessary taxa- 
tion by a wise reduction of the surplus. 

6. The Republican party- pledges itself to correct the irregulari- 
ties of the tariff and to reduce the surplus, not by the vicious and 
indiscriminate process of horizontal reduction, but by such methods 
as ill relieve the taxpayer without injuring the laborer or the great 
productive interests of the country. 

7. "We recognize the importance of sheep husbandry in the United 
States, the serious depression which it is now experiencing, and 
the danger threatening its future prosperity-: and we therefore 
respect the demands of the Representatives of this important agri- 
cultural interest for a readjustment of duties upon foreign wool, 
in order that such industry shall have full and adequate protection. 

8. We have aways recommended the best money known to the 

290 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

civilized world, and we urge that an effort be made to unite all com- 
mercial nations in the establishment of an international standard 
which shall fix for all the relative value of gold and silver coinage. 

9. The regulation of commerce with foreign nations and between 
the States is one of the most important prerogatives of the General 
Government, and the Republican party distinctly announces its pur- 
pose to support such legislation as will fully and efficiently carry 
out the constitutional power of Congress over interstate com- 
merce. 

_ 10. The principle of the public regulation of railway corpora- 
tions is a wise and salutary one for the protection of all classes of 
the people, and we favor legislation that shall prevent unjust dis- 
crimination and excessive charges for transportation, and that shall 
secure to the people and to the railways alike the fair and equal pro- 
tection of the laws. 

11. We favor the establishment of a national bureau of labor; 
the enforcement of the eight-hour law; a wise and judicious system 
of genera] education by adequate appropriation from the national 
revenues wherever the same is needed. We believe that everywhere 
the protection of a citizen of American birth must be secured to 
citizens by American adoption, and we favor the settlement of na- 
tional differences by international arbitration. 

12. The Republican party, having its birth in a hatred of slave 
labor, and in a desire that all men may be truly free and equal, is 
unalterably opposed to placing our workingmen in competition with 
any form of servile labor, whether at home or abroad. In this spirit 
we denounce the importation of contract labor, whether from Europe 
or Asia, as an offence against the spirit of American institutions, 
and we pledge ourselves to sustain the present law restricting 
Chinese immigration, and to provide such further legislation as is 
necessary to carry out its purposes. 

13. Reform of the civil service, auspiciously begun under Re- 
publican administration, should be completed by the further exten- 
sion of the reformed system already established by law to all the 
grades of the service to which it is applicable. The spirit and pur- 
pose of the reform should be observed in all executive appoint- 
ments, and all laws at variance with the objects of existing reformed 
legislation should be repealed, to the end that the dangers to free 
institutions which lurk in the power of official patronage may be 
wisely and effectively avoided. 

14. The public lands are a heritage of the people of the United 
States, and should be reserved, as far as possible, for small holdings 
by actual settlers. We are opposed to the acquisition of large tracts 
of these lands by corporations or individuals, especially where such 
holdings are in the hands of non-resident aliens, and we will en- 
deavor to obtain such legislation as will tend to correct this evil. 
We demand of Congress the speedy forfeiture of all land-grants 
which have lapsed by reason of non-compliance with acts of incor- 
poration, in all cases where there has been no attempt in good faith 
to perform the conditions of such grants. 

15. The grateful thanks of the American people are due to the 
Union soldiers and sailors of the late war ; and the Republican 
party stands pledged to suitable pensions for all who were disabled, 
and for the widows and orphans of those who died in the war. The 

291 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Republican party also pledges itself to the repeal of the limitation 
contained in the Arrears act of 1879, so that all invalid soldiers 
shall share alike, and their pensions begin with the date of disa- 
bility, and not with the date of the application. 

16. The Republican party favors a policy which shall keep us 
from entangling alliances with foreign nations, and which gives us 
the right to expect that foreign nations shall refrain from meddling 
in American affairs — the policy which seeks peace and trade with 
all powers, but especially with "those of the Western Hemisphere. 

17. We demand the restoration of our navy to its old-time 
strength and efficiency, that it may in any sea protect the rights of 
American citizens and the interests of American commerce. We 
call upon Congress to remove the burdens under which American 
shipping has been depressed, so that it may again be true that we 
have a commerce which leaves no sea unexplored, and a navy which 
takes no law from superior force. 

18. That appointments by the President to offices in the Terri- 
tories should be made from the bona fide citizens and residents of 
the Territories wherein they are to serve. 

19. That it is the duty of Congress to enact such laws as shall 
promptly and effectually suppress the system of polygamy within 
our Territories, and divorce the political from the ecclesiastical 
power of the so-called Mormon Church, and that the law so enacted 
should be rigidly enforced by the civil authorities, if possible, and 
by the military, if need be. 

20. The people of the United States, in their organized capacity, 
constitute a nation, and not a mere confederacy of States. The 
National Government is supreme within the sphere of its national 
duties, but the States have reserved rights which should be faith- 
fully maintained, and which should be guarded with jealous care, 
so that the harmony of our system of government may be pre- 
served and the Union kept inviolate. 

21. The perpetuity of our institutions rests upon the maintenance 
of a free ballot, an honest count, and correct return. We denounce 
the fraud ' and violence practised by the Democracy in Southern 
States, by which the will of the voter is defeated, as dangerous to 
the preservation of free institutions ; and we solemnly arraign the 
Democratic party as being the guilty recipient of the fruits of such 
fraud and violence. 

22. We extend to the Republicans of the South, regardless of 
their former party affiliations, our cordial sympathy, and pledge to 
them our most earnest efforts to promote the passage of such legis- 
lation as will secure to every citizen, of whatever race and color, 
the full and complete recognition, possession, and exercise of all 
civil and political rights. 

The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago on 
the 8th of July, and was temporarily organized with Richard 
D. Hubbard, of Texas, as chairman. The first day of the 
convention was unusually boisterous. The Tammany dele- 
gates, under the lead of John Kelly, were in a minority in the 
delegation, and under the Democratic unit rule their votes 

292 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

would be cast for Cleveland, to whose nomination they were 
bitterly opposed. A desperate struggle was made to break 
the unit rule, and thus release Tammany from the support 
of Cleveland. The proposition was very largely defeated, 
and during the balloting the Tammany people made various 
and ineffectual efforts to have their votes recorded. On the 
morning of the second day, William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, 
was made permanent president, and the presentation of can- 
didates for President followed, after which the platform was 
adopted and one ballot had for President, and on the follow- 
ing morning the 2d ballot was had, resulting in the selec- 
tion of Cleveland. 

Cleveland's nomination was accomplished solely by the 
earnest and skilful management of his cause by Daniel 
Manning, who was Secretary of the Treasury during half of 
Cleveland's first administration. Cleveland was a reluctant 
candidate, for he was not confident that he could be nomi- 
nated, and doubted if he could be elected if nominated ; but 
Manning gathered about him a very powerful organization, 
and under the unit rule carried the New York delegation 
solid for Cleveland, though Tammany, under the lead of 
John Kelly, stoutly opposed him. 

Randall had been named as the candidate for President by 
Pennsylvania, and had a delegation strongly committed to 
his support. I was present at the conferences of Randall's 
friends, and it became evident at an early stage of the battle 
that Randall's nomination was not within the range of possi- 
bility. His pronounced protection views made him ineligi- 
ble. Ex-Attorney-General William U. Hensel was there, 
and was actively enlisted in the Randall cause. When the 
defeat of Randall became clearly inevitable Hensel and I 
had a conference with Manning, and after a careful review 
of the situation it became apparent that Cleveland could be 
nominated with the aid of Randall's friends. We made no 
suggestions to Manning as to conditions, but told him that 
we would telegraph for Randall and have him there the next 
morning early, so that he and Randall could confer alone. 
Hensel and I telegraphed Randall urgently requesting him 
to take the first train for Chicago. He arrived the next 
morning, was brought directly by Mr. Hensel to my room, 
where Mr. Manning was in waiting, and Hensel and I went 
to breakfast. 

No one but Mr. Hensel and myself knew' of Randall's 

293 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

arrival, but within half an hour after he and Manning had 
met word was passed from Randall himself for his friends to 
support Cleveland. That settled the contest in Cleveland's 
favor. Tammany protested, but the Tammany vote was cast 
for Cleveland all the same under the unit rule that the New 
York Democrats have always maintained. 

The following are the ballots for President in detail : 



Grover Cleveland, of New York. . . . 
Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware . . . 
Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. . 

Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio 

Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania 
Joseph E. McDonald, of Indiana . . . 

John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky 

Roswell P. Flower, of New York . . . 

George Hoadly, of Ohio 

Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. . . . 




Second. 

683 

145^ 
4 
4 
2 



Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, upon whom the oppo- 
sition to Cleveland had largely united on the 2d ballot 
for President, was unanimously nominated for Vice-Presi- 
dent. On a motion to make the nomination of Cleveland 
unanimous, vigorous " nos " came up, especially from the 
Tammany Hall delegates, but the nomination of Hendricks 
was welcomed with the heartiest cheers. The following is 
the Democratic platform as adopted in 1884: 

The Democratic party of the Union, through its representatives 
in national convention assembled, recognizes that, as the nation 
grows older, new issues are born of time and progress, and old issues 
perish; but the fundamental principles of the Democracy, approved 
by the united voice of the people, remain and will ever remain, as 
the best and only security for the continuance of free government. 
The preservation of personal rights, the equality of all citizens be- 
fore the law, the reserved rights of the States, and the supremacy 
of the Federal Government within the limits of the Constitution, 
will ever form the true basis of our liberties, and can never be sur- 
rendered without destroying that balance of rights and powers which 
enables a continent to be developed in peace, and social order to 
be maintained by means of local self-government. But it is indis- 
pensable for the practicable application and enforcement of these 
fundamental principles that the Government should not always be 
controlled by one political party. Frequent change of administra- 



294 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

tion is as necessary as constant recurrence to the popular will. 
Otherwise, abuses grow, and the Government, instead of being 
carried on for the general welfare, becomes an instrumentality for 
imposing heavy burdens on the many who are governed, for the 
benefit of the few who govern. Public servants thus become arbi- 
trary rulers. This is now the condition of the country; hence a 
change is demanded. . , . j • 

The Republican party, so far as principle is concerned, is a 
reminiscence. In practice it is an organization for enriching those 
who control its machinery. The frauds and jobbery which have 
been brought to light in every department of the Government are 
sufficient to have called for reform within the Republican party; 
yet those in authority, made reckless by the long possession of 
power, have succumbed to its corrupting influence, and have 
placed in nomination a ticket against which the independent por- 
tion of the party are in open revolt. Therefore a change is de- 
manded. Such a change was alike necessary in 1876, but the will ot 
the people was then defeated by a fraud which can never be forgotten 
nor condoned. Again, in 1880, the change demanded by the people 
was defeated by the lavish use of money contributed by unscrupu- 
lous contractors and shameless jobbers, who had bargained tor 
unlawful profits or high office. The Republican party, during its 
legal, its stolen, and its bought tenures of power, has steadily de- 
cayed in moral character and political capacity. Its platform prom- 
ises are now a list of its past failures. It demands the restoration 
of our navy; it has squandered hundreds of millions to create a 
navy that does not exist. It calls upon Congress to remove the 
burdens under which American shipping has been depressed ; it 
imposed and has continued these burdens. It professes the policy 
of reserving the public lands for small holdings by actual settlers ; 
it has given away the people's heritage, till now a few railroads and 
non-resident aliens, individual and corporate, possess a larger area 
than that of all our farms between the two seas. It professes a 
preference for free institutions ; it organized and tried to legalize a 
control of State elections by Federal troops. It professes a desire 
to elevate labor; it subjected American working-men to the com- 
petition of convict and imported contract labor. It protesses 
gratitude to all who were disabled or died in the war, leaving 
widows and orphans ; it left to a Democratic House of Representa- 
tives the first effort to equalize both bounties and pension^ It 
professes a pledge to correct the irregularities of our tariff; it 
created and has continued them. Its own tariff commission con- 
fessed the need of more than twenty per cent, reduction ; its Con- 
gress gave a reduction of less than four per cent. It professes the 
protection of American manufactures; it has subjected them to an 
increasing flood of manufactured goods and a hopeless competition 
with manufacturing nations, not one of which taxes raw materials 
It professes to protect all American industries; it has impoverished 
many, to subsidize a few. It professes the protection of American 
labor; it has depleted the returns of American agriculture, an in- 
dustry followed by half our people. It professes the equality ot all 
men before the law, attempting to fix the status of colored citizens ; 
the acts of its Congress were overset by the decisions of its courts 
It "accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and 

295 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

reform;" its caught criminals are permitted to escape through con- 
trived delays or actual connivance in the prosecution. Honeycombed 
with corruption, outbreaking exposures no longer shock its moral 
sense. Its honest members, its independent journals, no longer 
maintain a successful contest for authority in its canvasses or a 
veto upon bad nominations. That change is necessary is proved 
by an existing surplus of more than $100,000,000, which has yearly 
been collected from a suffering people.. Unnecessary taxation is 
unjust taxation. We denounce the Republican party for having 
failed to relieve the people from crushing war taxes, which have 
paralyzed business, crippled industry, and deprived labor of employ- 
ment and of just reward. 

The Democracy pledges itself to purify the administration from 
corruption, to restore economy, to revive respect for law, and to 
reduce taxation to the lowest limit consistent with due regard to 
the preservation of the faith of the nation to its creditors and pen- 
sioners. Knowing full well, however, that legislation affecting the 
occupations of the people should be cautious and conservative in 
method, not in advance of public opinion, but responsive to its de- 
mands, the Democratic party is pledged to revise the tariff in a 
spirit of fairness to all interests. But, in making reduction in taxes, 
it is not proposed to injure any domestic industries, but rather to 
promote their healthy growth. From the foundation of this Gov- 
ernment, taxes collected at the custom house have been the chief 
source of Federal revenue. Such they must continue to be. More- 
over, many industries have come to rely upon legislation for suc- 
cessful continuance, so that any change of law must be at every 
step regardful of the labor and capital thus involved. The process 
of reform must be subject in the execution to this plain dictate of 
justice: all taxation shall be limited to the requirements of econom- 
ical government. The necessary reduction in taxation can and 
must be effected without depriving American labor of the ability to 
compete successfully with foreign labor, and without imposing lower 
rates of duty than will be ample to cover any increased cost of 
production which may exist in consequence of the higher rate of 
wages prevailing in this country. Sufficient revenue to pay all the 
expenses of the Federal Government, economically administered, 
including pensions, interest and principal of the public debt, can 
be got under our present system of taxation from custom-house 
taxes on fewer imported articles, bearing heaviest on articles of 
luxury, and bearing lightest on articles of necessity. We therefore 
denounce the abuses of the existing tariff; and, subject to the pre- 
ceding limitations, we demand that Federal taxation shall be exclu- 
sively for public purposes, and shall not exceed the needs of the 
Government economically administered. 

The system of direct taxation, known as the " internal revenue," 
is a war tax, and, so long as the law continues, the money de- 
rived therefrom should be sacredly devoted to the relief of the 
people from the remaining burdens of the war, and be made a fund 
to defray the expenses of the care and comfort of worthy soldiers 
disabled in the line of duty in the wars of the Republic, and for the 
payment of such pensions as Congress may from time to time grant 
to such soldiers, a like fund for the sailors having been already 
provided ; and any surplus should be paid into the Treasury. 

206 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

We favor an American continental policy, based upon more inti- 
mate commercial and political relations with the fifteen sister re- 
publics of North, Central, and South America, but entangling alli- 
ances with none. 

We believe in honest money, the gold and silver coinage of the 
Constitution, and a circulating medium convertible into such 
money without loss. 

Asserting the equality of all men before the law, we hold that 
it is the duty of the Government, in its dealings with the people, to 
mete out equal and exact justice to all citizens, of whatever nativ- 
ity, race, color, or persuasion, religious or political. 

We believe in a free ballot and a fair count ; and we recall to the 
memory of our people the noble struggle of the Democrats in the 
Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses, by which a reluctant Repub- 
lican opposition was compelled to assent to legislation making 
everywhere illegal the presence of troops at the polls as the con- 
clusive proof that a Democratic administration will preserve liberty 
with order. 

The selection of Federal officers for the Territories should be 
restricted to citizens previously resident therein. 

We oppose sumptuary laws, which vex the citizens and interfere 
with individual liberty. 

We favor honest civil service reforms and the compensation of 
all United States officers by fixed salaries, the separation of Church 
and State, and the diffusion of free education by common schools, 
so that every child in the land may be taught the rights and duties 
of citizenship. 

While we favor all legislation which will tend to the equitable 
distribution of property, to the prevention of monopoly, and to the 
strict enforcement of individual rights against corporate abuses, 
we hold that the welfare of society depends upon a scrupulous regard 
for the rights of property as defined by law. 

We believe that labor is best rewarded where it is freest and 
most enlightened. It should, therefore, be fostered and cherished. 
We favor the repeal of all laws restricting the free action of labor, 
and the enactment of laws by which labor organizations may be 
incorporated, and of such legislation as will tend to enlighten the 
people as to the true relation of capital and labor. 

We believe that the public land ought, as far as possible, to be 
kept as homesteads for actual settlers ; that all unearned lands 
heretofore improvidently granted to railroad corporations by the 
action of the Republican party should be restored to the public 
domain, and that no more grants of land shall be made to corpora- 
tions or be allowed to fall into the ownership of alien absentees. 

We are opposed to all propositions which, upon any pretext, 
would convert the General Government into a machine for collect- 
ing taxes to be distributed among the States or the citizens thereof. 

In reaffirming the declaration of the Democratic platform of 1856, 
that " the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declara- 
tion of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which 
makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed 
of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Demo- 
cratic faith," we nevertheless do not sanction the importation of 
foreign labor or the admission of servile races, unfitted by habits, 

297 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

training, religion, or kindred, for absorption into the great body of 
our people, or for the citizenship which our laws confer. Ameri- 
can civilization demands that against the immigration or importa- 
tion of Mongolians to these shores our gates be closed. 

The Democratic party insists that it is the duty of this Govern- 
ment to protect with equal fidelity and vigilance the rights of its 
citizens, native and naturalized, at home and abroad ; and, to the 
end that this protection may be assured. United States papers of 
naturalization, issued by courts of competent jurisdiction, must be 
respected by the executive and legislative departments of our own 
Government and by all foreign powers. It is an imperative duty of 
this Government to efficiently protect all the rights of persons and 
property* of every American citizen in foreign lands, and demand 
and enforce full reparation for any invasion thereof. An American 
citizen is only responsible to his own Government for any act done 
in his own country or under her flag, and can only be tried therefor 
on her own soil and according to her laws ; and no power exists in 
this Government to expatriate an American citizen to be tried in 
any foreign land for any such act. 

This country has never had a well-defined and executed foreign 
policy, save under Democratic administration. That policy has 
ever been in regard to foreign nations, so long as they do no act 
detrimental to the interests of the country, or hurtful to our citi- 
zens, to let them alone. As the result of this policy, we recall the 
acquisition of Louisiana, Florida. California and the adjacent Mexi- 
can Territory by purchase alone, and contrast these grand acquisi- 
tions of Democratic statesmanship with the purchase of Alaska, 
the sole fruit of a Republican administration of nearly a quarter 
of a century. 

The Federal Government should care for and improve the Mis- 
sissippi River and other great waterways of the Republic, so as to 
secure for the interior States easy and cheap transportation to tide 
water. 

Under a long period of Democratic rule and policy, our mer- 
chant marine was fast overtaking and on the point of outstripping 
that of Great Britain. Under twenty- years of Republican rule and 
policy, our commerce has been left to British bottoms, and the 
American flag has almost been swept off the high seas. Instead of 
the Republican party's British policy, we demand for the people of 
the United States an American policy. Under Democratic rule 
and policy, our merchants and sailors, flying the Stars and Stripes 
in every port, successfully searched out a market for the various 
products of American industry; under a quarter of a century of 
Republican rule and policy, despite our manifest advantages over 
all other nations, in high paid labor, favorable climates, and teem- 
ing soils ; despite freedom of trade among all these United States ; 
despite their population by the foremost races of men. and an 
annual immigration of the young, thrift}-, and adventurous of all 
nations ; despite our freedom here from the inherited burdens of 
life and industry in Old World monarchies, their costly war navies, 
their vast tax-consuming, non-producing standing armies ; despite 
twenty years of peace — that Republican rule and policy have man- 
aged to surrender to Great Britain, along with our commerce, the 
control of the markets of the world. Instead of the Republican 

298 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

party's British policy, we demand, in behalf of the American Democ- 
racy, an American policy. Instead of the Republican party's dis- 
credited scheme and false pretence of friendship for American labor, 
expressed by imposing taxes, we demand, in behalf of the Democ- 
racy, freedom for American labor by reducing taxes, to the end 
that these United States may compete with unhindered powers for 
the primacy among nations in all the arts of peace and fruits of 
liberty. 

With profound regret we have been apprised by the venerable 
statesman, through whose person was struck that blow at the vital 
principles of republics, acquiescence in the will of the majority, that 
he cannot permit us again to place in his hands the leadership of 
the Democratic hosts, for th.2 reason that the achievement of reform 
in the administration of the Federal Government is an undertaking 
now too heavy for his age and failing strength. Rejoicing that 
his life has been prolonged until the general judgment of our fellow- 
countrymen is united in the wish that that wrong were righted in 
his person, for the Democracy of the United States we offer to 
him, in his withdrawal from public cares, not only our respectful 
sympathy and esteem, but also that best of homage of freemen — 
the pledge of our devotion to the principles and the cause now 
inseparable in the history of this Republic from the labors and 
the name of Samuel J. Tilden. 

With this statement of the hopes, principles and purposes of the 
Democratic party, the great issue of reform and change in adminis- 
tration is submitted to the people, in calm confidence that the pop- 
ular voice will pronounce in favor of new men and new and more 
favorable conditions for the growth of industry, the extension of 
trade and employment and due reward of labor and of capital, and 
the general welfare of the whole country. 

The campaign of 1884 gave birth to the Anti-Monopoly 
party, that held its national convention at Chicago on the 
14th of May, with John F. Henry as permanent president. 
General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, was nomi- 
nated as the candidate for President on the 1st ballot, receiv- 
ing 122 votes to 7 for Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, and 1 for 
Solon Chase, of Maine. No nomination for Vice-President 
was made. The National Committee later nominated A. M. 
West, of Mississippi, for that office. The following plat- 
form was adopted by a vote of 85 to 29 : 

The Anti-Monopoly organization of the United States, in con- 
vention assembled, declares : 

1. That labor and capital should be allies; and we demand 
justice for both by protecting the rights of all against privileges 
for the few. 

2. That corporations, the creatures of law, should be controlled 
by law. 

3. That we propose the greatest reduction practicable in public 
expenses. 

4. That in the enactment and vigorous execution of just laws, 

299 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

equality of rights, equality of burdens, equality of privileges, and 
equality of powers in all citizens, will be secured. To this end we 
declare : 

5. That it is the duty of the Government to immediately exercise 
its constitutional prerogative to regulate commerce among the 
States. The great instruments by which this commerce is carried 
on are transportation, money, and the transmission of intelligence. 
They are now mercilessly controlled by giant monopolies, to the 
impoverishment of labor, the crushing out of healthful competi- 
tion, and the destruction of business security. We hold it, there- 
fore, to be the imperative and immediate duty of Congress to pass 
all needful laws for the control and regulation of these great agents 
of commerce, in accordance with the oft-repeated decisions of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. 

6. That these monopolies, which have exacted from enterprise 
such heavy tribute, have also inflicted countless wrongs upon the 
toiling millions of the United States ; and no system of reform 
should commend itself to the support of the people which does not 
protect the man who earns his bread by the sweat of his face. 
Bureaus of labor statistics must be established, both State and 
national ; arbitration take the place of brute force in the settle- 
ment of disputes between employer and employed : the national 
eight-hour law 7 be honestly enforced; the importation of foreign 
labor under contract be made illegal ; and whatever practical 
reforms may be necessary for the protection of united labor must 
be granted, to the end that unto the toiler shall be given that pro- 
portion of the profits of the thing or value created which his labor 
bears to the cost of production. 

7. That we approve and favor the passage of an interstate com- 
merce bill. Navigable waters should be improved by the Govern- 
ment, and be free. 

8. We demand the payment of the bonded debt as it falls due; 
the election of United States Senators by the direct vote of the 
people of their respective States ; a graduated income tax ; and a 
tariff, which is a tax upon the people, that shall be so levied as to 
bear as lightly as possible upon necessaries. We denounce the 
present tariff as being largely in the interest of monopoly, and 
demand that it be speedily and radically reformed in the interest of 
labor, instead of capital. 

9. That no further grants of public lands shall be made to cor- 
porations. All enactments granting lands to corporations should 
be strictly construed, and all land grants should be forfeited where 
the terms upon which the grants were made have not been strictly 
complied with. The lands must be held for homes for actual 
settlers, and must not be subject to purchase or control by non- 
resident foreigners or other speculators. 

10. That we deprecate the discrimination of American legisla- 
tion against the greatest of American industries — agriculture, by 
which it has been deprived of nearly all beneficial legislation, while 
forced to bear the brunt of taxation ; and we demand for it the 
fostering care of Government, and the just recognition of its im- 
portance in the development and advancement of our land ; and 
we appeal to the American farmer to co-operate with us in our 
endeavors to advance the national interests of the country and the 

3°0 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

overthrow of monopoly in every shape, whenever and wherever 
found. 

The National party, that was the legatee of the Greenback 
party, held its national convention at Indianapolis, on the 
28th of May, with James B. Weaver, of Iowa, its president. 
General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, was nomi- 
nated for President on the 1st ballot, as follows: 



Benjamin F. Butler, Mass. 322 

Jesse Harper, 111 99 

Solon Chase, Me 2 



Edward P. Allis, Wis 1 

David Davis, 111 1 



General Butler was then declared the choice of the conven- 
tion, but the motion to make it unanimous called out hisses 
from a portion of the delegates. A. M. West, of Mississippi, 
was nominated for Vice-President by acclamation. The fol- 
lowing platform was adopted : 

Eight years ago our young party met in this city for the first 
time, and proclaimed to the world its immortal principles, and 
placed before the American people as a Presidential candidate that 
great philanthropist and spotless statesman, Peter Cooper. Since 
that convention our party has organized all over the Union, and 
through discussion and agitation has been educating the people to 
a sense of their rights and duties to themselves and their country. 
These labors have accomplished wonders. We now have a great, 
harmonious party, and thousands who believe in our principles in 
the ranks of other parties. 

" We point with pride to our history." We forced the remonetiza- 
tion of the silver dollar; prevented the refunding of the public debt 
into long-time bonds ; secured the payment of the bonds, until " the 
best banking system the world ever saw," for robbing the producer, 
now totters because of its contracting foundation; we have stopped 
the wholesale destruction of the greenback currency, and secured 
a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States establishing 
forever the right of the people to issue their own money. 

Notwithstanding all this, never in our history have the banks, 
land-grant railroads, and other monopolies been more insolent in 
their demands for further privileges — still more class legislation. 
In this emergency the dominant parties are arrayed against the 
people, and are the abject tools of the corporate monopolies. 

In the last Congress, they repealed over twelve million dollars of 
annual taxes for the banks, throwing the burden upon the people to 
pay, or pay interest thereon. 

Both old parties in the present Congress vie with each other in 
their efforts to further repeal taxes in order to stop the payment of 
the public debt and save the banks whose charters they have renewed 
for twenty years. Notwithstanding the distress of business, the 
shrinkage of wages, and panic, they persist in locking up, on various 



301 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

pretexts, four hundred million dollars of money, every dollar of 
which the people pay interest upon, and need, and most of which 
should be promptly applied to pay bonds now payable. 

The old parties are united — as they cannot agree what taxes to 
repeal — in efforts to squander the income of the Government upon 
every pretext rather than pay the debt. 

A bill has already passed the United States Senate making the 
banks a present of over fifty million dollars more of the people's 
money, in order to enable them to levy a still greater burden of 
interest taxes. 

A joint effort is being made by the old party leaders to overthrow 
the sovereign constitutional power of the people to control their own 
financial affairs, and issue their own money, in order to forever 
enslave the masses to bankers and other business. The House of 
Representatives has passed bills reclaiming nearly one hundred mil- 
lion acres of land granted to and forfeited by railroad companies. 
These bills have gone to the Senate, a body composed largely of 
aristocratic millionaires, who, according to their own party papers, 
generally purchased their elections in order to protect great monopo- 
lies which they represent. This body has thus far defied the people 
and the House, and refused to act upon these bills in the interest of 
the people. 

Therefore we, the National party of the United States, in national 
convention assembled, this twenty-ninth day of May, a.d., 1884, de- 
clare : 

1. That we hold the late decision of the Supreme Court on the 
legal tender question to be a full vindication of the theory which 
our party has always advocated on the right and authority of Con- 
gress over the issue of legal tender notes, and we hereby pledge 
ourselves to uphold said decision, and to defend the Constitution 
against alterations or amendments intended to deprive the people 
of any rights or privileges conferred by that instrument. We de- 
mand the issue of such money in sufficient quantities to supply the 
actual demand of trade and commerce, in accordance with the in- 
crease of population and the development of our industries. We 
demand the substitution of greenbacks for national bank notes, and 
the prompt payment of the public debt. We want that money which 
saved our country in time of war, and which has given it prosperity 
and happiness in peace. We condemn the retirement of the frac- 
tional currency and the small denomination of greenbacks, and de- 
mand their restoration. We demand the issue of the hoards of money 
now locked up in the United States Treasury, by applying them to 
the payment of the public debt now due. 

2. We denounce, as dangerous to our republican institutions, 
those methods and policies of the Democratic and Republican par- 
ties which have sanctioned or permitted the establishment of land, 
railroad, money, and other gigantic corporate monopolies; and we 
demand such governmental action as may be necessary to take from 
such monopolies the powers they have so corruptly and unjustly 
usurped, and restore them to the people, to whom they belong. 

3. The public lands being the natural inheritance of the people, 
we denounce that policy which has granted to corporations vast 
tracts of land, and we demand that immediate and vigorous meas- 
ures be taken to reclaim from such corporations, for the people's use 

302 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

and benefit, all such land grants as have been forfeited by reason 
of non-fulfilment of contract, or that may have been wrongfully 
acquired by corrupt legislation, and that such reclaimed lands and 
other public domain be henceforth held as a sacred trust, to be 
granted only to actual settlers in limited quantities ; and we also de- 
mand that the alien ownership of land, individual or corporate, be 
prohibited. 

4. We demand Congressional regulation of interstate commerce. 
We denounce "pooling," stock watering, and discrimination in rates 
and charges, and demand that Congress shall correct these abuses, 
even, if necessary, by the construction of national railroads. We 
also demand the establishment of a Government postal telegraph 
system. 

5. All private property, all forms of money and obligations to 
pay money, should bear their just proportion of the public taxes. 
We demand a graduated income tax. 

6. We demand the amelioration of the condition of labor, by 
enforcing the sanitary laws in industrial establishments, by the 
abolition of the convict labor system, by a rigid inspection of mines 
and factories, by a reduction of the hours of labor in industrial estab- 
lishments, by fostering educational institutions, and by abolishing 
child labor. 

7. We condemn all importations of contracted labor, made with 
a view of reducing to starvation wages the workingmen of this coun- 
try, and demand laws for its prevention. 

8. We insist upon a constitutional amendment reducing the terms 
of United States Senators. 

9. We demand such rules for the government of Congress as shall 
place all representatives of the people upon an equal footing, and 
take away from committees a veto power greater than that of the 
President. 

10. The question as to the amount of duties to be levied upon 
various articles of import has been agitated and quarrelled over, and 
has divided communities, for nearly a hundred years. It is not now, 
and never will be, settled, unless by the abolition of indirect taxa- 
tion. It is a convenient Issue, always raised when the people are 
excited over abuses in their midst. While we favor a wise revision 
of the tariff laws, with a view to raising a revenue from luxuries 
rather than necessities, we insist that, as an economic question, its 
importance is insignificant as compared with financial issues ; for 
whereas we have suffered our worst panics under low and also under 
high tariffs, we have never suffered from a panic, nor seen our fac- 
tories and workshops closed, while the volume of money in circula- 
tion was adequate to the needs of commerce. Give our farmers and 
manufacturers money as cheap as you now give it to our bankers, 
and they can pay high wages to labor, and compete with all the 
world. 

11. For the purpose of testing the sense of the people upon the 
subject, we are in favor of submitting to a vote of the people an 
amendment to the Constitution in favor of suffrage regardless of 
sex, and also on the subject of the liquor traffic. 

12. All disabled soldiers of the late war should be equitably pen- 
sioned, and we denounce the policy of keeping a small army of office- 
holders, whose only business is to prevent, on technical grounds, 

303 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

deserving soldiers from obtaining justice from the Government they 
helped to save. 

13. As our name indicates, we are a national party, knowing no 
East, no West, no North, no South. Having no sectional preju- 
dices, we can properly place in nomination for the high offices of 
state, as candidates, men from any section of the Union. 

14. We appeal to all people who believe in our principles to aid 
us by voice, pen, and votes. 

The Prohibitionists divided in the contest of 1884. Their 
first was a mass convention, held at Chicago on the 19th of 
June, under the title of the American Prohibition National 
Convention, with J. L. Barlow, of Connecticut, as president. 
The fact that it was not largely a representative body is evi- 
denced from the fact that on the ballot for President, Samuel 
C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, received 72 votes to 12 for all others, 
and was declared the nominee, and John A. Conant, of Con- 
necticut, was nominated for Vice-President without a ballot. 
This organization did not have any electoral tickets as far as 
I can learn. 

It adopted the following platform : 

We hold : 1. That ours is a Christian, and not a heathen, nation, 
and that the God of the Christian Scriptures is the author of civil 
government. 

2. That the Bible should be associated with books of science and 
literature in all our educational institutions. 

3. That God requires and man needs a Sabbath. 

4. That we demand the prohibition of the importation, manufac- 
ture, and sale of intoxicating drinks. 

5. That the charters of all secret lodges granted by our Federal 
and State Legislatures should be withdrawn and their oaths prohib- 
ited by law. 

6. We are opposed to putting prison labor or depreciated contract 
labor from foreign countries in competition with free labor to benefit 
manufacturers, corporations, and speculators. 

7. We are in favor of a thorough revision and enforcement of the 
law concerning patents and inventions, for the prevention and pun- 
ishment of frauds either upon inventors or the general public. 

8. We hold to and will vote for womaa suffrage. 

9. We hold that civil equality secured to all American citizens by 
Articles Thirteen. Fourteen, and Fifteen of our amended national 
Constitution should be preserved inviolate, and the same equality 
should be extended to Indians and Chinamen. 

10. That international differences should be settled by arbitration. 

11. That land and other monopolies should be discouraged. 

12. That the General Government should furnish the people with 
an ample and sound currency. 

13. That it should be the settled policy of the Government to re- 
duce the tariffs and taxes as rapidly as the necessities of revenue and 
vested business interests will allow. 

304 






AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

14. That polygamy should be immediately suppressed by law, and 
that the Republican party is censurable for its long neglect of its 
duty in respect to this evil. 

15. And, finally, we demand for the American people the abolition 
of electoral colleges, and a direct vote for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

The regular national Prohibition party held its convention 
in Pittsburg on the 23d of July with Samuel Dickie, of Mich- 
igan, as permanent president. The sentiment of the party 
was very strongly in favor of Governor John P. St. John, of 
Kansas, who was unanimously nominated as President, and 
William Daniel, of Maryland, was chosen for Vice-President 
by a like unanimous vote. The following platform was 
adopted : 

The Prohibition-Home-Protection party, in national convention 
assembled, acknowledge Almighty God as the rightful sovereign of 
all men, from whom the just powers of government are derived, and 
to whose laws human enactments should conform. Peace, prosper- 
ity, and happiness only can come to the people when the laws of their 
national and State governments are in accord with the divine will. 

That the importation, manufacture, supply, and sale of alcoholic 
beverages, created and maintained by the laws of the national and 
State governments, during the entire history of such laws, is every- 
where shown to be the promoting cause of intemperance, with re- 
sulting^ crime and pauperism ; making large demands upon public 
and private charity; imposing large and unjust taxation and public 
burdens for penal and sheltering institutions upon thrift, industry, 
manufactures, and commerce ; endangering the public peace ; caus- 
ing desecration of the Sabbath; corrupting our politics, legislation, 
and administration of the laws ; shortening lives ; impairing health, 
and diminishing productive industry; causing education to be neg- 
lected and despised ; nullifying the teachings of the Bible, the Church, 
and the school, the standards and guides of our fathers and their 
children in the founding and growth under God of our widely ex- 
tended country ; and, while imperilling the perpetuity of our civil and 
religious liberties, are baleful fruits by which we know that these 
laws are alike contrary to God's laws and contravene our happiness ; 
and we call upon our fellow-citizens to aid in the repeal of these 
laws and in the legal suppression of this baneful liquor traffic. 

The fact that, during the twenty-four years in which the Repub- 
lican party has controlled the General Government and that of many 
of the States, no effort has been made to change this policy; that 
Territories have been created from the national domain and govern- 
ments from them established, and States admitted into the Union, 
in no instance in either of which has this traffic been forbidden, or 
the people of these Territories or States been permitted to prohibit 
it ; that there are now over two hundred thousand distilleries, brew- 
eries, wholesale and retail dealers in these drinks, holding certifi- 
cates and claiming the authority of Government for the continuation 
of a business which is so destructive to the moral and material wel- 

305 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

fare of the people, together with the fact that they have turned a 
deaf ear to remonstrance and petition for the correction of this abuse 
of civil government, is conclusive that the Republican party is insen- 
sible to or impotent for the redress of those wrongs, and should no 
longer be intrusted with the powers and responsibilities of govern- 
ment : that although this part}', in its late national convention, was 
silent on the liquor question, not so were its candidates. Messrs. 
Blaine and Logan. Within the year past Mr. Blaine has publicly 
recommended that the revenues derived from the liquor traffic shall 
be distributed among the States, and Senator Logan has by bill pro- 
posed to devote these revenues to the support of schools. Thus 
both virtually recommend the perpetuation of the traffic, and that 
the State and its citizens shall become partners in the liquor crime. 

The fact that the Democratic party has, in its national deliver- 
ances of party policy, arrayed itself on the side of the drink makers 
and sellers b} r declaring against the policy of prohibition of such 
traffic under the false name of "sumptuary laws," and, when in 
power in some of the States, in refusing remedial legislation, and. 
in Congress, of refusing to permit the creation of a board of inquiry 
to investigate and report upon the effects of this traffic, proves that 
the Democratic party should not be intrusted with power or place. 

There can be no greater peril to the nation than the existing com- 
petition of the Republican and Democratic parties for the liquor 
vote. Experience shows that any party not openly opposed to the 
traffic will engage in this competition, will court the favor of the 
criminal classes, will barter away the public morals, purity of the 
ballot, and every trust and object of good government, for party 
success ; and patriots and good citizens should find in this practice 
sufficient cause for immediate withdrawal from all connection with 
their party. 

That we favor reforms in the administration of the Government, 
in the abolition of all sinecures, useless offices and officers, in the 
election by the people of officers of the Government instead of ap- 
pointment by the President. That competency, honesty, and sobriety 
are essential qualifications for holding civil office, and we oppose 
the removal of such persons from mere administrative offices, except 
so far as it may be absolutel3 r necessary to secure effectiveness to 
the vital issues on which the general administration of the Govern- 
ment has been intrusted to a party. 

That the collection of revenue from alcohol, liquors, and tobacco 
should be abolished, as the vices of men are not a proper subject 
for taxation ; that revenue for customs duties should be levied for 
the support of the Government, economically administered ; and when 
so levied, the fostering of American labor, manufactures, and indus- 
tries should constantly be held in view. 

That the public land should be held for homes for the people and 
not for gifts to corporations, or to be held in large bodies for specu- 
lation upon the needs of actual settlers. 

That all money, coin and paper, shall be made, issued, and regu- 
lated by the General Government, and shall be a legal tender for all 
debts, public and private. 

That grateful care and support should be given to our soldiers and 
sailors, their dependent widows and orphans, disabled in the service 
of the country. 

306 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

That we repudiate as un-American, contrary to and subversive of 
the principle of the Declaration of Independence, from which our 
Government has grown to be the government of fifty-five millions 
of people, and a recognized power among nations, that any person 
or people shall or may be excluded from residence or citizenship 
with all others who may desire the benefits which our institutions 
confer upon the oppressed of all nations. 

That while there are important reforms that are demanded for 
purity of administration and the welfare of the people, their impor- 
tance sinks into insignificance when compared with the reform of 
the drink traffic, which annually wastes eight hundred million dol- 
lars of the wealth created by toil and thrift, and drags down thou- 
sands of families from comfort to poverty; which fills jails, peni- 
tentiaries, insane asylums, hospitals, and institutions for depen- 
dency; which destroys the health, saps industry, and causes loss of 
life and property to thousands in the land, lowers intellectual and 
physical vigor, dulls the cunning hand of the artisan, is the chief 
cause of bankruptcy, insolvency, and loss in trade, and by its cor- 
rupting power endangers the perpetuity of free institutions. 

That Congress should exercise its undoubted power, and prohibit 
the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages in the District 
of Columbia, in the Territories of the United States, and in all places 
over which the Government has exclusive jurisdiction; that here- 
after no State shall be admitted into the Union until its Constitution 
shall expressly prohibit polygamy and the manufacture and sale of 
intoxicating beverages. 

We earnestly call the attention of the laborer and mechanic, the 
miner and manufacturer, and ask investigation of the baneful effects 
upon labor and industry caused by the needless liquor business, 
which will be found the robber who lessens wages and profits, the 
destroyer of happiness and the family welfare of the laboring man, 
and that labor and all legitimate industry demand deliverance from 
the taxation and loss which this traffic imposes, and that no tariff 
or other legislation can so healthily stimulate production or increase 
a demand for capital and labor, or produce so much of comfort and 
content as the suppressing of this traffic would bring to the labor- 
ing man, mechanic, or employer of labor throughout our land. 

That the activity and co-operation of the women of America for 
the promotion of temperance has in all the history of the past been a 
strength and encouragement which we gratefully acknowledge and 
record. In the later and present phase of the movement for the 
prohibition of the licensed traffic by the abolition of the drinking- 
saloon, the purity of purpose and method, the earnestness, zeal, in- 
telligence, and devotion of the mothers and daughters of the 
Women's Christian Temperance Union has been eminently blessed 
by God. Kansas and Iowa have been given her as " sheaves of re- 
joicing;" and the education and arousing of the public mind, and 
the demand for constitutional amendment now prevailing, are largely 
the fruit of her prayers and labors, and we rejoice to have our 
Christian women unite with us in sharing the labors that shall bring 
the abolition of this traffic to the polls, she shall join in the grand 
"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," when by law our boys 
and friends shall be free from legal drink temptation. 

That we believe in the civil and political equality of the. sexes, and 

307 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



that the ballot in the hand of woman is a right for her protection, 
and would prove a powerful ally for the abolition of the drink- 
saloon, the execution of law, the promotion of reform in civil affairs, 
and the removal of corruption in public life; and thus believing, we 
relegate the practical outworking of this reform to the discretion of 
the Prohibition party in the several States, according to the condi- 
tion of public sentiment in those States ; that gratefully we acknowl- 
edge and praise God for the presence of His Spirit, guiding our coun- 
sels and granting the success which has been vouchsafed in the prog- 
ress of temperance reform, and looking to Him from whom all wis- 
dom and help come, we ask the voters of the United States to make, 
the principles of the above declaration a ruling principle in the gov- 
ernment of the nation and of the States. _ 

Resolved, That henceforth the Prohibition-Home-Protection party 
shall be called by the name of the Prohibition party. 

The following table exhibits the popular and electoral vote 
for 1884: 





Popular Vote. 


Electoral 
Vote. 


STATES. 


u 






'cJ 

C*5*3 

a 


u 

OJ 

§2 

CQ+J 
. tfl 

C 
•5 e4 

C CO 
CO 

n 



>— > . 

tag 

C 

O 


■a 

J* 

•d 




a 
a 

bfl 
O 
v-3 

« 

4J 

a 
'3 

5 


Maine 


52,140 

39,183 

17,331 

122,481 

12,391 

67,199 

563,154 

127,798 

392,785 

16,964 

96,932 

185,497 

67,317 

142,952 

69,890 

94,667 

31,766 

93,951 

76,510 

62,540 


72,209 

43,249 

39,514 

146,724 

19,030 

65,923 

562,005 

123,440 

473,804 

12,951 

85,699 

139,356 

63,096 

125,068 

21,733 

48,603 

28,031 

59,591 

43,509 

46,347 


3,953 

552 

785 

24,433 

422 

1,688 

16,994 

3,496 

16,992 

6 

531 


2,160 

1,571 

1,752 

10,026 

928 

2,305 

25,016 

6,159 

15.283 

55 

2,794 

138 

939 

454 


6 

36 
9 

3 

8 
12 

6 
11 

9 
12 

4 
10 

9 

8 


6 


New Hampshire. . 

Vermont 

Massachusetts. . . . 
Rhode Island .... 
Connecticut 

Pennsylvania .... 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia 


4 

4 

14 

4 

30 


West Virginia 

North Carolina. . . 
South Carolina. . . 
Georgia 


810 


— 






145 


195 

72 

612 




Florida 




Alabama 

Louisiana 


873 


— 






• 









308 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 





Popular Vote. 


Electoral 
Vote. 


STATES. 


n 

<s 

> D 

6 


<0 

a 

'3 

s . 

O.S 

a ■ 

OS 


u 


Hi 

r' w 

.s-s 

'J? 


a 



»-» 

P* a! 

o 
•— > 


■a 
o 


a 

c3 

o 

«d 

c 

0> 

G 

'3 

I-H 


Texas 


225,309 

72,927 

235,988 

133,258 

152,961 

368,280 

149,835 

244,990 

312,355 

146,459 

70,144 

177,316 

54,391 

90,132 

27,723 

5,578 

89,288 

24,604 


93,141 

50,895 
202,929 
124,078 
118,122 
400,082 
192,669 
238,463 
337,474 
161,157 
111,923 
197,089 

79,912 
154,406 

36,290 

7,193 

102,416 

26,860 


3,321 
1,847 


3,534 


13 
7 
16 
12 
13 

15 




Arkansas 




Missouri . 


2,153 

1,131 

3,139 

11,069 

18,403 

3,028 

12,074 

7,656 

4,684 

1,472 

2,899 

4,495 

761 




Kentucky 

Ohio 


957 
1,691 
5,179 

42,243 
8,293 

10,910 
4,598 
3,583 


23 


Michigan 

Indiana 


13 


Illinois 


22 


Minnesota 

Iowa . 


11 

7 

13 






5 


Kansas 


16,341 

1,953 

26 

2,017 

726 


9 


Colorado 

Nevada 


3 
3 


Oregon 


2,920 
492 


8 
3 








4,874,986 


4,851,981 


175,370 


150,369 


219 


182 



No man was ever big enough to conduct a Presidential 
contest for himself. The intense interest a candidate must 
have in the struggle, and the constant strain upon him, would 
unbalance the most forceful intellect the world has ever pro- 
duced. Blaine would have been matchless in the skilful 
management of a Presidential campaign for another, but he 
was dwarfed by the overwhelming responsibilities of con- 
ducting the campaign for himself, and yet he assumed the 
supreme control of the struggle and directed it absolutely 
from start to finish. He was of heroic mould, and he wisely 
planned his own campaign tours to accomplish the best 
results. In point of fact, he had won his fight after stump- 
ing the country, and lost it by his stay in New York on his 
way home. He knew how to sway multitudes, and none 

309 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

could approach him in that important feature of a conflict; 
but he was not trained to consider the thousand intricacies 
which fall upon the management of every Presidential 
contest. 

Three causes combined to lose New York by noo majority 
when the electoral vote of that State would have made him 
President. One was his implacable quarrel with Conkling, 
that lost him iooo votes, cast directly for his opponent in 
Conkling's county of Oneida. They had quarrelled when 
both were comparatively young and rivals for the leadership 
of the House. In a heated controversy between them Blaine 
unhorsed Conkling, and inflicted wounds which never healed, 
and they never spoke from that time during their lives. 
When both were members of the Senate, if either had occa- 
sion to refer to the remarks made by the other, instead of 
referring to the " Senator from Maine'' or the " Senator 
from New Yerk," they would say : " It has been stated on 
this floor." Many efforts were made to bring them together, 
but Conkling was an intense hater, and Blaine was willing to 
be broken rather than bend. He dined with Jay Gould dur- 
ing his brief stay in New York City, and that brought him 
no votes and lost him many. 

The Burchard episode, that Blaine was blunderingly 
brought into in New York just on the eve of the election, 
was very generally accepted as costing him more than 
enough votes to have given him the State of New York, 
and thereby his election to the Presidency. It was miserably 
bad politics in its conception and could not have been more 
bunglingly executed. Blaine had suffered much from the 
attacks upon his public integrity, and some of his friends 
in New York assumed that it would be a great card to have 
him called upon by forty or fifty ministers of different 
denominations and congratulated as the candidate for Presi- 
dent. 

As originally planned it might have accomplished some 
good, and certainly would not have done any harm. It was 
intended that Rev. Dr. Tiffany should deliver the address 
V> Blaine. He was one of the most eloquent divines of the 
country, was well up in politics, had been in active political 
movements in Pennsylvania as a leader in the American 
party when he was connected with Dickinson's College, and 
was a candidate for United States Senator before the Legis- 
lature of 1855. Had he delivered the address to Blaine, it 

310 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

would have been an elegant and faultless congratulation, but 
when the ministers met some of them strenuously objected 
to Dr. Tiffany as the oracle of the party, and there were 
indications of considerable ill-feeling. There was little time 
for conference, and the dispute was suddenly ended by some 
one proposing that the oldest minister present should deliver 
the address to Blaine, and that was adopted to settle the 
dispute. 

Dr. Burchard, unfortunately, happened to be the oldest 
minister in attendance, and he was rampant against " Rum, 
Romanism, and Rebellion," but none supposed for a moment 
that he would make such a fearful break as to publicly 
denounce Romanism in an address of congratulation to a 
Presidential candidate, whose mother and sisters were devout 
Catholics. On his way home from the West he had visited 
his sister at a convent in Indiana, where she was Mother 
Superior. Burchard, of course, had no opportunity for 
preparation, and when the ministerial crowd came into the 
presence of Blaine he fired off his address in a manner not 
highly creditable, and proclaimed the fatal sentence against 
" Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion." 

Blaine in his reply made no reference to that feature of 
Dr. Burchard's address, and he seems not to have appreciated 
its fearful import until the next day, when he gave out an 
interview, disclaiming sympathy with it ; but it was accepted 
as an afterthought, and that deliverance of Dr. Burchard 
certainly drove away from Blaine more than the six hundred 
votes necessary to give him the State of New York and the 
Presidency. I saw Blaine soon after the election, and asked 
him why it was that he overlooked the expression at the 
time. He was a man of such keen perception and so ready 
in every emergency that I was amazed at his failure to turn 
the blunder to his advantage, as he could have done by 
a generous expression on the religious issue involved. He 
told me that he heard the expression distinctly, but that his 
mind was just then concentrated on his reply, as he generally 
spoke spontaneously, and that he thereby failed to become 
impressed with its importance. He said that when the 
proceedings were over, and he gave it a moment's reflection, 
he saw what a fearful mistake had been made; but the 
emergency was extreme and called for immediate action, 
and he unfortunately hesitated until another day had passed. 
It was then too late, and Dr. Burchard certainly cost Blaine 

3ii 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

many more votes than would have given him his election. 
Had Blaine been under the command of a competent 
chairman of his national committee, he would never have 
been permitted to stop in Xew York after his great battle 
had been fought before the people, and had he gone directly 
from the West to his home in Maine, he would have been 
President instead of Cleveland. 

Blaine and Tilden are the only men I can recall who 
undertook to manage a Presidential contest for themselves, 
and both suffered defeats, for which they were wholly 
responsible. 

Blaine committed many serious blunders during the cam- 
paign of 1884. He and Cleveland were both made the 
targets of flagrant scandals, and when the Cleveland scandal 
was sent to Blaine in the early part of the contest, instead 
of peremptorily forbidding its use as a campaign factor, as 
would have been most wise, he sent it to his national com- 
mittee, and it was given publicity. The Blaine scandal was 
sent to Cleveland early in the fight, and he at once gave 
notice to those in charge of his campaign that any personal 
scandals against Blaine should not have the sanction of the 
Democratic organization. Blaine never would have com- 
mitted such a mistake if he had been managing a Presidential 
campaign for another, and had he been such responsible 
manager, he never would have permitted a libel suit to be 
instituted against a newspaper publisher for any scandal, 
however false and malignant. He was a man of intense 
earnestness, and the intensity of his interest in his own 
election for the Presidency unbalanced his judgment and 
made him often tr e creature of impulse when he should have 
been most dispassionate and philosophical. The scandals 
did not affect a thousand votes out of the many millions 
cast for President, and Blaine suffered vastly more than 
Cleveland, because he dignified the scandal against himself 
by legal proceedings for defamation. The fact that he 
voluntarily discontinued the suit after the election is the 
best evidence of the error committed against himself. 

Charles A. Dana, then editor of the Xew York Sun, 
became estranged from Mr. Cleveland the year before the 
Presidential election of 1884. He had earnestly supported 
Cleveland for Governor in 1882, but when a movement was 
made by Mr. Manning to organize the State for Cleveland 
in 1884 Dana was implacable in his opposition. I met him 

312 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

several times before Cleveland was nominated, and he always 
discussed the question with an unusual degree of acrimony. 
He believed that Cleveland was not available; that he was 
unworthy of the position, and that if nominated he would 
be overwhelmingly defeated. He gave me no reason for his 
changed relations with Cleveland, and I did not learn the 
true cause until after Cleveland had been elected Presi- 
dent. 

Soon after Cleveland's nomination I was spending a few 
days at Saratoga, and was watching Dana's paper with 
much interest, for he was very much disgruntled. He did 
not at first declare himself aggressively against Cleveland's 
election, but one morning at Saratoga, in taking up the Sun, 
I found one of Dana's terrible deliverances against Cleveland, 
that left no possible chance for a reconciliation. I tele- 
graphed to Mr. Dana and asked him to meet me at his 
office at three o'clock that afternoon, and called there on 
my way home. Mr. Dana had gone too far to recede, but 
I tried to temper his bitterness, as I thought it would do 
great harm, not only to Cleveland, but to his own newspaper 
as well, then one of the most prosperous in the country. 

Mr. Dana was petulant and violent in his expressions 
against Cleveland, and said that he had decided to support 
General Butler, who was the candidate of the Labor- 
Socialistic element, and who, he said, would receive not less 
than 25,000 votes in New York City. I told him that Butler 
might receive 2500, and if there were 25,000 disgruntled 
Democrats who wanted to defeat Cleveland, they would 
certainly vote for Blaine. 

The result was about as I had predicted. Butler received 
only a few thousand votes, and Dana and his following, 
while ostensibly supporting Butler, voted squarely for Blaine. 
Dana's paper was the most aggressive of all the anti- 
Cleveland newspapers in the country, and it doubtless exerted 
great influence, but not sufficient to lose Cleveland the State. 

Charles A. Dana was the ablest editor ever developed by 
American journalism. Horace Greeley was more pungent 
and telling in his political articles, and Henry Watterson 
is more brilliant, but Charles A. Dana was the strongest 
editorial writer this country has ever produced. He was 
versatile, powerful, and elegant, but an unfortunate personal 
estrangement made him the bitterest of Cleveland's enemies, 
and paved the way for the Sun to be transformed from an 

313 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

out-and-out Tammany organ to the most aggressive of 
Republican organs. 

It was not until I met Cleveland at Albany, soon after his 
election, that I learned the cause of the estrangement be- 
tween Geveland and Dana, and the statement given by Mr. 
Cleveland was subsequently confirmed by Mr. Dana. Dana 
had very earnestly supported Cleveland's nomination and 
election for Governor in 1882, and after the election he wrote 
a personal letter to Cleveland asking the appointment of a 
friend to the position of Adjutant-General. His chief pur- 
pose was to give a position on the staff to his son, Paul Dana, 
who is now his successor in the editorial chair. Cleveland 
received that letter as he received thousands of other letters 
recommending appointments, instead of recognizing the 
claim Mr. Dana had upon him for the courtesy of an answer. 
Beecher had a candidate for the same position, and Cleve- 
land gave it to Beecher s man without any explanation what- 
ever to Dana, who felt that he had been discourteously 
treated by Cleveland. 

Mr. Dana gave no open sign of his disappointment, but 
some time after Cleveland's inauguration, when it became 
known that Dana felt grieved at the Governor, some mutual 
friends intervened and proposed to Cleveland that he should 
invite Dana to join with some acquaintances at the Executive 
Mansion. To this Cleveland readily assented. Dana was 
informed that Cleveland would tender such an invitation if it 
would be accepted, and he promptly assented. Cleveland 
then became involved in the pressing duties of the Legisla- 
ture, and allowed the session to close without extending the 
promised and expected invitation to Dana. Mr. Cleveland 
told me that he was entirely to blame for neglect in both 
instances, as Dana would doubtless have been satisfied if he 
had courteously informed him of his convictions which re- 
quired him to appoint another for Adjutant-General ; and he 
had no excuse to offer but that of neglect for not inviting 
Dana to dinner. 

Dana naturally assumed that Cleveland had given him 
deliberate affront, and Cleveland could make no satisfactory 
explanation. As Governor and as President he was first of 
all devoted to his official duties, which he discharged with 
rare fidelity, and he gave little time even to the common 
courtesies ' which most Governors and Presidents would 
recognize as justly belonging to their friends. Efforts were 

3*4 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEIvl 

made to conciliate Dana, but he never would discuss the 
question, and he sacrificed half the circulation of his paper 
in the campaign of 1884 in his battle against Cleveland. 
When Cleveland's election was announced, and the Repub- 
licans were disposed to dispute the vote of New York, Dana 
came out boldly and declared that Cleveland was elected and 
that no violent measures should be tolerated to deprive him 
of the honor conferred upon him by the people. 

It is quite possible that Dana got even with Cleveland in 
1888. His paper gave a nominal support to Cleveland, but 
did more damage to the Cleveland cause than any other 
newspaper in the country by subtle and persistent attacks 
upon the administration and the party, though never exhibit- 
ing on the surface a trace of personal hostility to the Presi- 
dent. The Sun was then the organ of Tammany, and Tam- 
many certainly defeated Cleveland in 1888 by giving the 
State to Harrison, when Hill, the Democratic candidate for 
Governor on the same ticket, was elected by nearly 20,000. 
It is not a strained conclusion that Dana defeated Cleveland's 
re-election in 1888. The estrangement between Dana and 
Cleveland continued, as they never met or had any inter- 
course. 

Blaine's nomination was possible in 1888 when Harrison 
was made the candidate, but after hesitating for three days, 
during which time he freely conferred by cable with his 
friends, as he was then in Europe, he finally decided to 
decline. 

His belief that he was fated not to be President was not 
weakened by advancing age, and his final assent to the use 
of his name in 1892, at the Minneapolis convention that 
renominated Harrison, was the first exhibition of decay in 
one who had been a giant among the giants in the most event- 
ful history of the Republic. He had been a possibly success- 
ful candidate in four national conventions; had once been 
nominated and defeated, and it was a sad spectacle to see 
him, like a great oak with its green boughs broken and its 
heart corroding from the storms of many winters, broken in 
a tempest of political resentments and r m a struggle that had 
not so much as a silver lining to the cloud of despair that 
hung over him. His nomination was hopeless ; his defeat, if 
nominated, inevitable, and thus ended the life tragedy of one 
of the ablest, bravest, and most beloved of our public men. 



THE HARRISON-CLEVELAND 
CONTEST 

1888 



The Democratic National Convention of 1888 met at St. 
Louis on June 5, and it was the most perfunctory body of the 
kind I have ever witnessed. I never saw a national political 
body so entirely devoid of enthusiasm ; yet it was entirely 
fixed in its purpose to renominate President Cleveland. He 
appealed strongly to the convictions and judgment of the 
party, but not to its affection or enthusiasm. He was nomi- 
nated by a unanimous vote without the formality of a ballot, 
and it had been settled long before the convention met that 
the sturdy old Roman of Ohio, ex-Senator Thurman, should 
be the candidate for the second place, as Vice-President 
Hendricks had died in office. 

Patrick A. Collins, of Massachusetts, was permanent 
president of the body, and there were no questions of rules 
or party policy to excite discussion. Cleveland's nomination 
was unanimous, and on the single ballot for Vice-President, 
Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, had 690 votes to 105 for Isaac 
B. Gray, of Indiana, and 25 for John C. Black, of Illinois. 
The following platform was unanimously adopted : 

The Democratic party of the United States, in national conven- 
tion assembled, renews the pledge of its fidelity to Democratic faith, 
and reaffirms the platform adopted by its representatives in the 
convention of 1884, and endorses the views expressed by President 
Cleveland in his last earnest message to Congress as the correct 
interpretation of that platform upon the question of tariff reduc- 
tion; and also endorses the efforts of our Democratic representa- 
tives in Congress to secure a reduction of excessive taxation. 

Chief among its principles of party faith are the maintenance of 
an indissoluble union of free and indestructible States, now about 
to enter upon its second century of unexampled progress and 
renown; devotion to a plan of government regulated by a written 
Constitution strictly specifying every granted power and expressly 

316 * 




BENJAMIN HARRISON 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

reserving to the States or people the entire ungranted residue of 
power; the encouragement of a jealous popular vigilance, directed 
to all who have been chosen for brief terms to enact and execute 
the laws and are charged with the duty of preserving peace, insur- 
ing equality, and establishing justice. 

The Democratic party welcomes an exacting scrutiny of the 
administration of the Executive power which, four years ago, was 
committed to its trusts in the election of Grover Cleveland, Presi- 
dent of the United States ; but it challenges the most searching 
inquiry concerning its fidelity and devotion to the pledges which 
then invited the suffrages of the people. During a most critical 
period of our financial affairs, resulting from over-taxation, the 
anomalous condition of our currency, and a public debt unmatured, 
it has, by the adoption of a wise and conservative policy, not only 
averted a disaster, but greatly promoted the prosperity of the 
people. It has reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the 
Republican party touching the public domain, and has reclaimed 
from corporations and syndicates, alien and domestic, and restored 
to the people nearly one hundred millions of acres of valuable 
land to be sacredly held as homesteads for our citizens. 

While carefully guarding the interests of the taxpayers and con- 
forming strictly to the principles of justice and equity, it has paid 
out more for pensions and bounties to the soldiers and sailors of the 
Republic than was ever paid before during an equal period. 

It has adopted and consistently pursued a firm and prudent for- 
eign policy, preserving peace with all nations, while scrupulously 
maintaining all the rights and interests of our own Government 
and people at home and abroad. The exclusion from our shores 
of Chinese laborers has been effectually secured under the provision 
of a treaty the operation of which has been postponed by the action 
of a Republican majority in the Senate. 

Honest reform in the civil service has been inaugurated and 
maintained by President Cleveland, and he has brought the public 
service to the highest standard of efficiency, not only by rule and 
precept, but by the example of his own untiring and unselfish ad- 
ministration of public affairs. 

In every branch and department of the Government under Demo- 
cratic control the rights and welfare of all the people have been 
guarded and defended; every public interest has been protected, 
and the equality of all our citizens before the law, without regard 
to race or color, has been steadfastly maintained. 

Upon its record thus exhibited, and upon a pledge of a continu- 
ance to the people of these benefits, the Democracy invokes a re- 
newal of popular trust by the re-election of a Chief Magistrate who 
has been faithful, able, and prudent. We invoke, in addition to 
that trust, the transfer also to the Democracy of the entire legisla- 
tive power. 

The Republican party controlling the Senate and resisting in 
both houses of Congress a reformation of unjust and unequal tax 
laws which have outlasted the necessities of war and are now un- 
dermining" the abundance of a long peace, denies to the people 
equality before the law, and the fairness and the justice which are 
their right. Thus the cry of American labor for a better share in 
the rewards of industry is stifled with false pretences, enterprise is 

317 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

fettered and bound down to home markets, capital is discouraged 
with doubt, and unequal, unjust laws can neither be properly- 
amended nor repealed. The Democratic party will continue with 
all the power confided to it the struggle to reform these laws, in 
accordance with the pledges of its last platform, endorsed at the 
ballot-box by the suffrages of the people. 

Of all the industrious freemen of our land, the immense major- 
ity, including every tiller of the soil, gain no advantage from ex- 
cessive tax laws, but the price of nearly everything they buy is 
increased by the favoritism of an unequal system of tax legislation. 
All unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation. It is repugnant to 
the creed of Democracy that by such taxation the cost of the neces- 
saries of life should be unjustifiably increased to all our people. 
Judged by Democratic principles, the interests of the people are 
betrayed when, by unnecessary taxation, trusts and combinations 
are permitted to exist which, while unduly enriching the few that 
combine, rob the body of our citizens by depriving them of the 
benefits of natural competition. Every Democratic rule of govern- 
mental action is violated when, through unnecessary taxation, a 
vast sum of money, far beyond the needs of an economical adminis- 
tration, is drawn from the people and the channels of trade, and 
accumulated as a demoralizing surplus in the national Treasury. 
The money now lying idle in the Federal Treasury, resulting from 
superfluous taxation, amounts to more than one hundred and twen- 
ty-five million dollars, and the surplus collected is reaching the sum 
of more than sixty millions annually. Debauched by this im- 
mense temptation, the remedy of the Republican party is to meet 
and exhaust by extravagant appropriations and expenses, whether 
constitutional or not. the accumulation of extravagant taxation. 
The Democratic policy is to enforce frugality in public expense, 
and to abolish unnecessary taxation. Our established domestic in- 
dustries and enterprises should not, and need not. be endangered 
by the reduction and correction of the burdens of taxation. On 
the contrary, a fair and careful revision of our tax laws, with due 
allowance for the difference between the wages of American and 
foreign labor, must promote and encourage every branch of such 
industries and enterprises, by giving them assurance of extended 
market and steady and continuous operations in the interests of 
American labor, which should in no event be neglected. The revi- 
sion of our tax laws contemplated by the Democratic party should 
promote the advantage of such labor, by cheapening the cost of the 
necessaries of life in the home of every workman, and at the same 
time securing to him steady and remunerative employment. Upon 
this question of tariff reform, so closely concerning every phase 
of our national life, and upon every question involved in the prob- 
lem of good government, the Democratic party submits its princi- 
ples and professions to the intelligent suffrages of the American 
people. 

Resolved, That this convention hereby endorses and recom- 
mends the early passage of the bill for the reduction of the reve- 
nue now pending in the House of Representatives. 

Resolved, That a just and liberal policy should be pursued in 
reference to the Territories ; that right of self-government is inher- 
ent in the people, and guaranteed under the Constitution ; that the 

3'8 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Territories of Washington, Dakota, Montana, and New Mexico 
are, by virtue of population and development, entitled to admission 
into the Union as States, and we unqualifiedly condemn the course 
of the Republican party in refusing Statehood and self-government 
to their people. 

Resolved, That we express our cordial sympathy with the strug- 
gling people of all nations, in their efforts to secure for themselves 
the inestimable blessings of self-government, and civil and religious 
liberty, and we especially declare our sympathy with the efforts of 
those noble patriots who, led by Gladstone and Parnell, have con- 
ducted their grand and peaceful contest for home rule in Ireland. 

The Republican convention met at Chicago on the 19th of 
June, with M. M. Estee, of California, as permanent presi- 
dent. It was assumed by the friends of Blaine in Pennsyl- 
vania, and generally throughout the country, that he did not 
desire to be nominated as the Republican candidate for Presi- 
dent. Pennsylvania, where Blaine's friends were largely in 
the ascendency, declared in favor of Senator Sherman, of 
Ohio. Senator Quay was at the head of his delegation, with 
instructions from the State convention to support Sherman, 
and ex-Governor Hastings, then Adjutant-General, pre- 
sented the name of Sherman to the convention in the name 
of Pennsylvania. 

Blaine was in Europe, and while he evidently did not de- 
sire to confess himself a candidate, he seemed unwilling then 
to make his declination peremptory, as he had done in two 
letters long before the convention met. His hesitation de- 
layed the action of the convention several days, but finally 
he authorized the withdrawal of his name from the list of 
candidates, and a very earnest contest was made between the 
friends of Sherman, Gresham, Alger, and Harrison. Gov- 
ernor Alger was largely supported by the commercial dele- 
gates from the South, and Sherman and his friends bitterly 
complained that the Southern delegates had been corruptly 
diverted from the Sherman ranks. Gresham represented 
the more conservative Republican element. He was not a 
radical politician, as was shown by his support of Cleveland 
in 1892, but while conservative with Mugwump flavor, it 
was evident from the demonstrations made in Chicago 
during the convention that the labor elements of the country 
were very strongly in sympathy with him, although his own 
delegation was against him. 

Depew was only an ornamental candidate, and was brim- 
ful of humor as he mingled with the delegates and spec- 
s' 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

tators. He knew that the Grangers of the West would no 
more vote for him than they would for the Czar of Russia, 
but his State had declared for him with great unanimity, and 
he was very cordially supported by a number of friends out- 
side of New York. It soon became evident that Sherman 
could not succeed, as he reached his highest vote on the 
2d ballot and steadily declined thereafter, while Harrison 
increased on every ballot from the first to the eighth, when 
he was nominated by a large majority. The following are 
the several ballots for President: 







c 
o 
a 

■ 




*-> 
u 

3 
O 
ft 


<— 


s 


JS 

c 
■ 
> 

■ 


jz 

"Si - 


John Sherman, Ohio 


229 

HI 

99 

84 

80 

72 

35 

28 

25 

25 

24 

3 

2 


249 

108 
99 

116 
91 
75 
33 
16 
20 
18 

2 
3 


244 
123 
91 
122 
94 
88 
35 

16 
5 

2 

8 
2 


235 

98 

135 

217 

88 

42 

1 
11 

1 

1 


224 

87 

142 

213 

99 

48 

14 


244 
91 

137 

231 

73 

40 

12 

1 
1 


231 
91 

120 

278 
76 
15 

2 

16 

1 
1 


118 


Russell A. Alger, Mich 


59 
100 


James G. Blaine. Me 


544 
5 


John J. Ingalls, Kan 




Jere. M. Rusk, Wis 




William W. Phelps, N. J 

E. H. Filler, Pa 




Robert T. Lincoln, 111 




William McKinley, Jr., Ohio.. . . 

Samuel F. Miller, Iowa 

Frederick Douglass 


4 


J. B. Foraker, Ohio 




Frederick D. Grant, N. Y 

Creed Haymond, Cal 


— 







One ballot was had for Vice-President, as follows : 



Blanche K. Bruce (col.), Miss. 11 
Walter F. Thomas, Texas. ... 1 



Levi P. Morton, N. Y 591 

Walter Wm. Phelps. N. J. 119 
Wm. O. Bradley, Ky 103 

The nomination of Morton was made unanimous, 
following platform was unanimously adopted : 



The 



The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their dele- 
gates in national convention, pause on the threshold of their pro- 
ceedings to honor the memory of their first great leader, the im- 
mortal champion of liberty and the rights of the people, Abraham 
Lincoln, and to cover also with wreaths of imperishable remem- 
brance and gratitude the heroic names of our later leaders, who 
have more recently been called away from our councils — Grant, Gar- 
field, Arthur, Logan, Conkling. May their memories be faithfully 
cherished. We also recall with our greetings and with prayer for 



320 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

his recovery, the name of one of our living heroes, whose memory 
will be treasured in the history both of Republicans and of the 
Republic, the name of that noble soldier and favorite child of victory, 
Philip H. Sheridan. 

In the spirit of these great leaders, and of our own devotion to 
human liberty, and with that hostility to all forms of despotism 
and oppression which is the fundamental idea of the Republican 
party, we send fraternal congratulations to our fellow-Americans 
of Brazil upon their great act of emancipation, which completed 
the abolition of slavery throughout the two American continents. 
We earnestly hope that we may soon congratulate our fellow-citizens 
of Irish birth upon the peaceful recovery of home rule for Ireland. 

We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the national Constitu- 
tion and to the indissoluble union of the States ; to the autonomy 
reserved to the States under the Constitution ; to the personal 
rights and liberties of citizens in all the States and Territories in 
the Union, and especially to the supreme and sovereign right of 
every lawful citizen, rich or poor, native or foreign-born, white or 
black, to cast one free ballot in public elections, and to have that 
ballot duly counted. We hold the free and honest popular ballot 
and the just and equal representation of all the people to be the 
foundation of our republican Government, and demand effective 
legislation to secure the integrity and purity of elections, which 
are the fountains of public authority. We charge that the present 
administration and the Democratic majority in Congress owe their 
existence to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification 
of the Constitution and laws of the United States. 

We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of 
protection. We protest against its destruction, as proposed by the 
President and his party. They serve the interests of Europe; we 
will support the interests of America. We accept the issue, and 
confidently appeal to the people for their judgment. The protec- 
tive system must be maintained. Its abandonment has always been 
followed by disaster to all interests, except those of the usurer 
and the sheriff. We denounce the Mills bill as destructive to the 
general business* the labor, and the farming interests of the country, 
and we heartily endorse the consistent and patriotic action of the 
Republican representatives in Congress opposing its passage. We 
condemn the proposition of the Democratic party to place wool on 
the free list, and we insist that the duties thereon shall be adjusted 
and maintained so as to furnish full and adequate protection to 
that industry. The Republican party would effect all needed reduc- 
tion of the national revenue by repealing the taxes upon tobacco, 
which are an annoyance and burden to agriculture, and the tax 
upon spirits used in the arts, and for mechanical purposes, and 
by such revision of the tariff laws as will tend to check imports 
of such articles as are produced by our people, the production of 
which gives employment to our labor, and release from import duties 
those articles of foreign production, except luxuries, the like of 
which cannot be produced at home. If there shall still remain a 
larger revenue than is requisite for the wants of the Government, 
we favor the entire repeal of internal taxes, rather than the sur- 
render of any part of our protective system, at the joint behest 
of the whiskey trusts and the agents of foreign manufacturers. 

321 



OCR PRESIDENTS 

We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country of 
foreign contract labor, and of Chinese labor, alien to our civiliza- 
tion and our Constitution, and we demand the rigid enforcement 
of the existing laws against it. and favor such immediate legisla- 
tion as will exclude such labor from our shores. 

We declare our opposition to all combinations of capital, organ- 
ized in trusts or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition 
of trade among our citizens, and we recommend to Congress and 
the State Legislatures, in their respective jurisdictions, such leg: sta- 
tion as will prevent the execution of all schemes to oppress the 
people by undue charges on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the 
transportation of their products to market. We approve the legisla- 
tion by Congress to prevent alike unjust burdens and unfair dis- 
criminations between the States. 

We reaffirm the policy of appropriating the public lands of the 
United States to be homesteads for American citizens and settlers. 
not aliens, which the Republican party established in 1862. against 
the persistent opposition of the Democrats in Congress, and which 
has brought our great Western domain into such magnificent de- 
velopment. The restoration of unearned railroad land grants to the 
public domain for the use of actual settlers, which was begun under 
the administration of President Arthur, should be continued. We 
deny that the Democratic party has ever restored one acre to the 
people, but declare that by the joint action of the Republicans and 
Democrats about fifty millions of acres of unearned lands, originally 
granted for the construction of railroads, have been restored to 
the public domain, in pursuance of the conditions inserted by the 
Republican party in the original grants. We charge the Demo- 
cratic administration with failure to execute the laws securing 
to settlers title to their homestead, and with using appropriations 
made for that purpose to harass innocent settlers with spies and 
prosecutions under the false pretence of exposing frauds and vin- 
dicating the law. 

The government by Congress of the Territories is based upon 
necessity only, to the end that they may become States in the 
Union; therefore, whenever the conditions of population, material 
resources, public intelligence, and morality are such as to insure a 
stable local government therein, the people of such Territories 
should be permitted, as a right inherent in them, the right to form 
for themselves constitutions and State governments, and be ad- 
mitted into the Union. Pending the preparation for statehood. 
all officers thereof should be selected from the bona-ride residents 
and citizens of the Territory wherein they are to serve. South 
Dakota should, of right, be immediately admitted as a State under 
the constitution framed and adopted by her people, and we heartily 
endorse the action of the Republican Senate in twice passing bills 
for her admission. The refusal of the Democratic House of Repre- 
sentatives, for partisan purposes, favorably to consider these bills 
is a wilful violation of the sacred American principle of local self- 
government and merits the condemnation of all just men. The 
pending bills in the Senate for acts to enable the people of Wash- 
ington, North Dakota, and Montana Territories to form constitu- 
tions and establish State governments should be passed without 
unnecessary delay. The Republican party 7 pledges itself to do all 

322 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

in its power to facilitate the admission of the Territories of New 
Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona to the enjoyment of self- 
government as States, such of them as are now qualified as soon 
as possible, and the others as soon as they become so. 

The political power of the Mormon Church in the Territories as 
exercised in the past is a menace to free institutions, a danger no 
longer to be suffered; therefore, we pledge the Republican party to 
appropriate legislation, asserting the sovereignty of the nation in 
all Territories where the same is questioned, and in furtherance of 
that end to place upon the statute books legislation stringent enough 
to divorce the political from the ecclesiastical power, and thus stamp 
out the attendant wickedness of polygamy. 

The Republican party is in favor of the use of both gold and 
silver as money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic ad- 
ministration in its efforts to demonetize silver. 

We demand the reduction of letter postage to one cent per ounce. 

In a Republic like ours, where the citizen is the sovereign, and 
the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the 
will of the people, it is important that the sovereign and the people 
should possess intelligence. The free school is the promoter of 
that intelligence which is to preserve us a free nation, therefore the 
State or nation, or both combined, should support free institutions 
of learning, sufficient to afford to every child growing up in the 
land the opportunity of a good common school education. 

We earnestly recommend that prompt action be taken by Con- 
gress in the enactment of such legislation as will best secure the 
rehabilitation of our American merchant marine ; and we protest 
against the passage by Congress of a free-ship bill, as calculated to 
work injustice to labor by lessening the wages of those engaged in 
preparing materials as well as those directly employed in our ship- 
yards. 

We demand appropriations for the early rebuilding of our navy ; 
for the construction of coast fortifications and modern ordnance, 
and other approved modern means of defence for the protection of 
our defenceless harbors and cities; for the payment of just pensions 
to our soldiers ; for necessary works of national importance in the 
improvement of harbors and the channels of internal, coastwise, 
and foreign commerce ; for the encouragement of the shipping in- 
terests of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific States, as well as for the 
payment of the maturing public debt. This policy will give em- 
ployment to our labor ; activity to our various industries ; increase 
the security of our country ; promote trade ; open new and direct 
markets for our produce, and cheapen the cost of transportation. 
We affirm this to be far better for our country than the Democratic 
policy of loaning the Government's money, without interest, to 
" pet banks." 

The conduct of foreign affairs by the present administration has 
been distinguished by its inefficiency and its cowardice. Having 
withdrawn from the Senate all pending treaties effected by Repub- 
lican administration for the removal of foreign burdens and re- 
strictions upon our commerce, and for its extension into better 
markets, it has neither effected nor proposed any others in their 
stead. Professing adherence to the Monroe Doctrine, it has seen, 
with idle complacency, the extension of foreign influence in Cen- 

3 2 3 



our presidents 

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524 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

co-operation of patriotic men of all parties, and especially of all 
workingmen, whose prosperity is seriously threatened by the free- 
trade policy of the present administration. 

The first concern of all good government is the virtue and 
sobriety of the people, and the purity of their homes. The Repub- 
lican party cordially sympathizes with all wise and well-directed 
efforts for the promotion of temperance and morality. 

There were two distinct Labor parties in existence in 1888, 
and they both called their national conventions to meet at 
Cincinnati on the 15th of May. The Union Labor party was 
the only one whose candidate figured in the contest. Mr. 
Streeter, its nominee for President, received 146,935 votes, 
with only 2418 for Cowdrey, who was the candidate of the 
United Labor party. The Union Labor Convention had rep- 
resentatives from twenty States, and John Seitz was per- 
manent president. There was no ballot for President, as 
Alson J. Streeter, of Illinois, was nominated by acclamation, 
and Samuel Evans, of Texas, was selected for Vice-President 
on the 1st ballot, receiving 124 votes, to 44 for T. P. 
Rynders, of Pennsylvania, and 32 for Charles R. Cunning- 
ham, of Arkansas. The following platform was unani- 
mously adopted : 



General discontent prevails on the part of the wealth-producer. 
Farmers are suffering from a poverty which has forced most of 
them to mortgage their estates, and the prices of products are so 
low as to offer no relief, except through bankruptcy, and laborers 
are sinking into greater dependence. Strikes are resorted to with- 
out bringing relief, because of the inability of employers, in many 
cases, to pay living wages, while more and more are driven into 
the street. Business men find collections almost impossible, and, 
meantime, hundreds of millions of idle public money, which is 
needed for relief, is locked up in the United States Treasury, or 
placed without interest in favored banks in grim mockery of dis- 
tress. Land monopoly flourishes as never before, and more owners 
of the soil are daily becoming tenants. Great transportation cor- 
porations still succeed in extorting their profits on watered stock 
through unjust charges. The United States Senate has become an 
open scandal, its membership being purchased by the rich in open 
defiance of the popular will. Various efforts are made to squ^ider 
the public money, which are designed to empty the Treasury with- 
out paying the public debt. Under these and other alarming con- 
ditions, we appeal to the people of our country to come out of old 
party organizations, whose indifference to the public welfare is 
responsible for this distress, and aid the Union Labor party to repeal 
existing class legislation, and relieve the distress of our industries by 
establishing the following principles : 

3 2 5 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Land. — While we believe that the proper solution of the finan- 
cial question will greatly relieve those now in danger of losing 
their homes by mortgages and foreclosures, and enable all indus- 
trious persons to secure a home as the highest result of civilization, 
we oppose land monopoly in every form, demand the forfeiture of 
unearned grants, the limitation of land ownership, and such other 
legislation as will stop speculations in lands, and holding it un- 
used from those whose necessities require it. 

We believe the earth was made for the people, and not to en- 
able an idle aristocracy to subsist, through rents, upon the toil of 
the industrious, and that corners in land are as bad as corners in 
food, and that those who are not residents or citizens should not 
be allowed to own lands in the United States. A homestead should 
be exempt, to a limited extent, from execution or taxation. 

Transportation. — The means of communication and transporta- 
tion should be owned by the people, as is the United States postal 
service. 

Money. — The establishment of a national monetary system in the 
interest of the producer, instead of the speculator and usurer, by 
which the circulating medium, in necessary quantity and full lega^l 
tender, shall be issued directly to the people, without the interven- 
tion of banks, or loaned to citizens upon land security at a low 
rate of interest, to relieve them from extortions of usury and en- 
able them to control the money supply. Postal savings banks 
should be established. While we have free coinage of gold, we 
should have free coinage of silver. We demand the immediate ap- 
plication of all the money in the United States Treasury to the 
payment of the bonded debt, and condemn the further issue of 
interest-bearing bonds, either by the National Government or by 
States, Territories, or municipalities. 

Labor. — Arbitration should take the place of strikes and other 
injurious methods of settling labor disputes. The letting of convict 
labor to contractors should be prohibited, the contract system be 
abolished in public works, the hours of labor in industrial establish- 
ments be reduced, commensurate with the increased production by 
labor-saving machinery, employes protected from bodily injury, 
equal pay for equal work for both sexes, and labor, agricultural, 
and co-operative associations be fostered and encouraged by law. 
The foundation of a republic is in the intelligence of its citizens. 
and children who are driven into workshops, mines, and factories 
are deprived of the education which should be" secured to all by 
proper legislation. 

Pensions. — We demand the passage of a service pension bill to 
every honorably discharged soldier and sailor of the United States. 

Income Tax. — A graduated income tax is the most equitable 
system of taxation, placing the burden of Government on those 
who»can best afford to pay. instead of laying it on the farmers and 
producers, and exempting millionaire bondholders and corporations. 

United States Senate. — We demand a constitutional amendment 
making United States Senators elective by a direct vote of the 
people. 

Contract Labor. — We demand the strict enforcement of laws 
prohibiting the importation of subjects of foreign countries under 
contract. 

3^6 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Chinese. — We demand the passage and enforcement of such 
legislation as will absolutely exclude the Chinese from the United 
States. 

Woman Suffrage. — The right to vote is inherent in citizenship, 
irrespective of sex, and is properly within the province of State 
legislation. 

Paramount Issues. — The paramount issues to be solved in the 
interests of humanity are the abolition of usury, monopoly, and 
trusts, and we denounce the Democratic and Republican parties for 
creating and perpetuating these monstrous evils. 

The United Labor party had a limited attendance at its 
convention. William B. Ogden was made president, and 
Rev. Edward McGlynn, of New York, a priest noted for his 
discussion of labor problems, prepared and reported the plat- 
form. Robert H. Cowdrey, of Illinois, was nominated for 
President, and W. H. T. Wakefield, of Kansas, for the sec- 
ond place on the ticket without the formality of a ballot. The 
following platform was unanimously adopted : 

We, the delegates of the United Labor party of the United States, 
in national convention assembled, hold that the corruptions of Gov- 
ernment and the impoverishment of the masses result from neglect 
of the self-evident truths proclaimed by the founders of this Repub- 
lic, that all men are created equal and are endowed with inalienable 
rights. We aim at the abolition of the system which compels men 
to pay their fellow-creatures for the use of the common bounties of 
nature, and permits monopolizers to deprive labor of natural oppor- 
tunities for employment. 

We see access to farming land denied to labor, except on payment 
of exorbitant rent or the acceptance of mortgage burdens, and labor, 
thus forbidden to employ itself, driven into the cities. We see the 
wage- workers of the cities subjected to this unnatural competition, 
and forced to pay an exorbitant share of their scanty earnings for 
cramped and unhealthful lodgings. We see the same intense com- 
petition condemning the great majority of business and professional 
men to a bitter and often unavailing struggle to avoid bankruptcy ; 
and that, while the price of all that labor produces ever falls, the 
price of land ever rises. 

We trace these evils to a fundamental wrong — the making of the 
the land on which all must live the exclusive property of but a por- 
tion of the community. To this denial of natural rights are due 
want of employment, low wages, business depressions, that intense 
competition which makes it so difficult for the majority of men to 
get a comfortable living, and that wrongful distribution of wealth 
which is producing the millionaire on one side and the tramp on 
the other. 

To give all men an interest in the land of their country; to enable 
all to share in the benefits of social growth and improvement ; to 
prevent the shutting out of labor from employment by the monopo- 
lization of natural opportunities ; to do away with the one-sided com- 

327 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

petition which cuts down wages to starvation rates; to restore life 
to business, and prevent periodical depressions ; to do away with that 
monstrous injustice which deprives producers of the fruits of their 
toil while idlers grow rich; to prevent the conflicts which are array- 
ing class against class, and which are fraught with menacing dangers 
to society — we propose so to change the existing system of taxation 
that no one shall be taxed on the wealth he produces, nor any one 
suffered to appropriate wealth he does not produce by taking to 
himself the increasing values which the growth of society adds to 
l?.r.i. 

What we propose is not the disturbing of any man in his holding 
or title: but, by taxation of land according to its value and not 
according to its area, to devote to common use and benefit those 
values which arise, not from the exertion of the individual, but from 
the growth of society, and to abolish all taxes on industry and its 
products. This increased taxation of land values must, while reliev- 
ing the working farmer and small homestead owner of the undue 
burdens now imposed upon them, make it unprofitable to hold land 
for speculation, and thus throw open abundant opportunities for the 
employment of labor and the building up of homes. We would do 
away with the present unjust and wasteful system of finance which 
piles up hundreds of millions of dollars in treasury vaults while we 
are paying interest on an enormous debt : and we would establish in 
its stead a monetary system in which a legal tender circulating' me- 
dium should be issued by the Government, without the intervention 
of banks. 

We wish to abolish the present unjust and wasteful system of own- 
ership of railroads and telegraphs by private corporations — a system 
which, while failing to supply adequately public needs, impoverishes 
the farmer, oppresses the manufacturer, hampers the merchant, im- 
pedes travel and communication, and builds up enormous fortunes 
and corrupting monopolies that are becoming more powerful than 
the Government itself. For this system we would substitute Gov- 
ernment ownership and control for the benefit of the whole people 
instead of private profit. 

While declaring the foregoing to be the fundamental principles 
and aims of the United Labor party, and while conscious that no 
reform can give effectual and permanent relief to labor that does 
not involve the legal recognition of equal rights to natural opportu- 
nities, we, nevertheless, as measures of relief from some of the evil 
effects of ignoring those rights, favor such legislation as may tend 
to reduce the hours of labor, to prevent the employment of children 
of tender years, to avoid the competition of convict labor with hon- 
est industry, to secure the sanitary inspection of tenements, facto- 
ries, and mines, and to put an end to the abuse of conspiracy laws. 

We desire also to simplify the procedure of our courts and dimin- 
ish the expense of legal proceedings, that the poor may therein be 
placed on an equality with the rich, and the long delays which now 
result in scandalous miscarriages of justice may be prevented. Since 
the ballot is the only means by which, in our Republic, the redress 
of political and social grievances is to be sought, we especially and 
emphatically declare for the adoption of what is known as the Aus- 
tralian system of voting, in order that the effectual secrecy of the 
ballot, and the relief of candidates for public office from the heavy 

328 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

expenses now imposed upon them, may prevent bribery and intimida- 
tion, do away with practical discriminations in favor of the rich and 
unscrupulous, and lessen the pernicious influence of money in politics. 

We denounce the Democratic and Republican parties as hopelessly 
and shamelessly corrupt, and, by reason of their affiliation with 
monopolies, equally unworthy of the suffrages of those who do not 
live upon public plunder; we therefore require of those who would 
act with us that they sever all connection with both. 

In support of these aims, we solicit the co-operation of all patri- 
otic citizens, who, sick of the degradation of politics, desire by con- 
stitutional methods to establish justice, to preserve liberty, to extend 
the spirt of fraternity, and to elevate humanity. 

The Prohibition Convention of 1888 was the most notable 
assembly of Prohibitionists ever held in the country. It met 
at Indianapolis on the 20th of May, with several thousands 
in attendance outside of the delegates. According to the re- 
port of the committee on credentials there were 1029 del- 
egates present. Among those who participated in the pro- 
ceedings of the convention were James Black, the party can- 
didate for President in 1872, Neal Dow, who was the nom- 
inee in 1880, and John P. St. John, who led the Prohibition- 
ists in the Presidential contest of 1884. John P. St. John was 
the permanent president, and Clinton B. Fisk, of New Jersey, 
was nominated for President, and John A. Brooks, of Mis- 
souri, for Vice-President by acclamation without the for- 
mality of a ballot. The following platform was adopted with 
great enthusiasm : 



The Prohibition party, in national convention assembled, acknowl- 
edging Almighty God as the source of all power in government, do 
hereby declare : 

1. That the manufacture, importation, exportation, transportation, 
and sale of alcoholic beverages should be made public crimes, and 
punished as such. 

2. That such prohibition must be secured through amendments of 
our National and State Constitutions, enforced by adequate laws 
adequately supported by administrative authority ; and to this end 
the organization of the Prohibition party is imperatively demanded 
in State and nation. 

3. That any form of license, taxation, or regulation of the liquor 
traffic is contrary to good government ; that any party which sup- 
ports regulation, license, or tax enters into alliance with such 
traffic and becomes the actual foe of the State's welfare, and that 
we arraign the Republican and Democratic parties for their per- 
sistent attitude in favor of the licensed iniquity, whereby they oppose 
the demand of the people for prohibition, and, through open com- 
plicity with the liquor cause, defeat the enforcement of law. 

3 2 9 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

4. For the immediate abolition of the internal revenue system, 
whereby our National Government is deriving support from our 
greatest national vice. 

5. That, an adequate public revenue being necessary, it may prop- 
erly be raised by impost duties and by an equitable assessment upon 
the property and the legitimate business of the country, but import 
duties should be so reduced that no surplus shall be accumulated 
in the treasury, and that the burdens of taxation shall be removed 
from foods, clothing, and other comforts and necessaries of life. 

6. That civil service appointments for all civil offices, chiefly cler- 
ical in their duties, should be based upon moral, intellectual and 
physical qualifications, and not upon party service or party necessity. 

7. That the right of suffrage rests on no mere circumstance of 
race, color, sex or nationality, and that where, from any cause, it 
has been held from citizens who are of suitable age and mentally 
and morally qualified for the exercise of an intelligent ballot, it 
should be restored by the people through the Legislatures of the sev- 
eral States, on such educational basis as they may deem wise. 

8. For the abolition of polygamy and the establishment of uniform 
laws governing marriage and divorce. 

9. For prohibiting all combinations of capital to control and to 
increase the cost of products for popular consumption. 

10. For the preservation and defence of the Sabbath as a civil 
institution without oppressing any who religiously observe the same 
on anj' - other day than the first day of the week. 

11. That arbitration is the Christian, wise, and economic method 
of settling national differences, and the same method shouftl, by judi- 
cious legislation, be applied to the settlement of disputes between 
large bodies of employes and emplo}<ers ; that the abolition of the 
saloons would remove the burdens, moral, physical, pecuniary, and 
social, which now oppress labor and rob it of its earnings, and 
would prove to be the wise and successful way of promoting labor 
reform ; and we invite labor and capital to unite with us for the 
accomplishment thereof; that monopoly in land is a wrong to the 
people, and the public land should be reserved to actual settlers, and 
that men and women should receive equal wages for equal work. 

12. That our immigration laws should be so enforced as to pre- 
vent the introduction into our country of all convicts, inmates of 
other dependent institutions, and of others physically incapacitated 
for self-support, and that no person should have the ballot in any 
State who is not a citizen of the United States. 

Recognizing and declaring that prohibition of the liquor traffic 
has become the dominant issue in national politics, we invite to full 
party fellowship all those who, on this one dominant issue, are with 
us agreed, in the full belief that this party can and will remove sec- 
tional differences, promote national unity, and insure the best welfare 
of our entire land. 



Another convention was held at Washington on the 14th 
of August, composed of a few fragments of the old American 
party. The fact that it polled in the entire country only 1 590 
votes for its candidates showed that it was practically with- 

330 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

out constituents. It was natural enough that the national 
convention of a party made up almost wholly of ambitious 
and discordant leaders should have a split, and they managed 
to get up a row and have a secession of the delegates repre- 
senting a number of States on the simple question of how the 
delegates should vote. The seceders, however, made no nom- 
inations. After the dissatisfied delegates had left the con- 
vention, only the delegates from New York and California 
remained, but they were 80 of the 126 delegates all told. 
They nominated James Langdon Curtis, of New York, for 
President, and James R. Greer, of Tennessee, for Vice-Presi- 
dent. Mr. Greer declined the nomination, and I can find no 
record of any one having been chosen in his place. The fol- 
lowing platform was adopted : 



Resolved, That all law-abiding citizens of the United States of 
America, whether native or foreign born, are politically equals (ex- 
cept as provided by the Constitution), and all are entitled to, and 
should receive, the full protection of the laws. 

Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States should be 
so amended as to prohibit the Federal and State Governments from 
conferring upon any person the right to vote unless such person be 
a citizen of the United States. 

Resolved, That we are in favor of fostering and encouraging 
American industries of every class and kind, and declare that the 
assumed issue " Protection" vs. " Free Trade" is a fraud and a 
snare. The best " protection" is that which protects the labor and 
life blood of the Republic from the degrading competition with and 
contamination by imported foreigners; and the most dangerous 
" free trade" is that in paupers, criminals, communists, and an- 
archists, in which the balance has always been against the United 
States. 

Whereas, One of the greatest evils of unrestricted foreign immi- 
gration is the reduction of the wages of the American working-man 
and working-woman to the level of the underfed and underpaid labor 
of foreign countries ; therefore, 

Resolved, That we demand that no immigrant shall be admitted 
into the United States without a passport obtained from the Amer- 
ican consul at the port from which he sails ; that no passport shall be 
issued to any pauper, criminal, or insane person, or to any person 
who, in the judgment of the consul, is not likely to become a desira- 
ble citizen of the United States ; and that for each immigrant pass- 
port there shall be collected by the consul issuing the same the sum 
of one hundred dollars to be by him paid into the Treasury of the 
United States. 

Resolved, That the present naturalization laws of the United 
States should be unconditionally repealed. 

Resolved, That the soil of America should belong to Americans ; 
that no alien non-resident should be permitted to own real estate 

331 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

in the United States ; and that the realty possessions of the resident 
alien should be limited in value and area. 

Resolved, That no flag shall float on any public buildings, munici- 
pal, State, or national, in the United States, except the municipal, 
State, or national flag of the United States — the flag of the stars and 
stripes. 

Resolved, That we reassert the American principles of absolute 
freedom of religious worship and belief, the permanent separation 
of Church and State ; and we oppose the appropriation of public 
money or property to any church, or institution administered by a 
church. We maintain that all church property should be subject to 
taxation. 

The contest of 1888 differed from the Cleveland contest of 
1884 in its freedom from vituperation and bitterness. It was 
conducted with earnestness and dignity on both sides. 
Xeither of the candidates greatly enthused the rank and file 
of their party, as did Blaine and Hancock in former national 
conflicts, but they commanded not only the entire confidence 
and respect of their parties, but also of the whole country. 
Cleveland took little personal part in the conflict, but Har- 
rison made a most vigorous and telling campaign by his 
almost daily speeches delivered to visiting delegations at 
Indianapolis, in which he discussed every phase of the public 
questions of the day. These addresses were doubtless care- 
fully prepared and given to the associated press, but they 
were not only very able, but they were singularly versatile 
and adroit, and presented Harrison to the public in an en- 
tirely new light. I cannot recall another Presidential con- 
test that was conducted on both sides with greater dignity 
and decency than that between Cleveland and Harrison in 
1888. Nearly equal respect was shown to both candidates in 
the Garfield-Hancock contest of 1880, but the famous forgery 
of the Morey letter to control the vote of the Pacific States 
against Garfield and the Credit Mobilier scandal marred the 
dignity of that conflict. 

The following table exhibits the popular and electoral vote 
of 1888: 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



STATES. 



Alabama 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts.. . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 
New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina . 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania. . . 
Rhode Island. . . 
South Carolina . 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

West Virginia. . . 
Wisconsin 

Totals 



Popular Vote. 



c3 cS 

'5 C3 



pq 



56,197 

58,752 

124,816 

50,774 

74,584 

12,973 

26,657 

40,496 

370,473 

263,361 

211,598 

182,934 

155,134 

30,484 

73,734 

99,986 

183,892 

236,370 

142,492 

30,096 

236,257 

108,425 

7,229 

45,728 

144,344 

648,759 

134,784 

416,054 

33,291 

526,091 

21,968 

13,736 

138,988 

88,422 

45,192 

150,438 

77,791 

176,553 



5,439,853 5,540,329 



•a 

c 

e8 . 

IS 

S3 u 

l* 

u 



117,320 

85,962 

117,729 

37,567 

74,920 

16,414 

39,561 

100,499 

348,278 

261,013 

179,887 

103,744 

183,800 

85,032 

50,481 

106,168 

151,856 

213,459 

104,385 

85,471 

261,974 

80,552 

5,362 

43,458 

151,493 

635,757 

147,902 

396,455 

26,522 

446,633 

17,530 

65,825 

158,779 

234,883 

16,785 

151,977 

79,664 

155,232 



fa <u 

w 

« & 

o £ 
V 



583 

641 

5,761 

2,191 

4,234 

400 

423 

1,808 

21,695 

9,881 

3,550 

6,768 

5,225 

160 

2,691 

4,767 

8,701 

20,942 

15,311 

218 

4,539 

9,429 

41 

1,593 

7,904 

30,231 

2,787 

24,356 

1,677 

20,947 

1,250 



5,969 
4,749 
1,460 
1,678 
669 
14,277 



249,506 



m o 



o 



10,613 



1,266 

240 



136 

7,090 

2,694 

9,105 

37,726 

622 

39 

1,344 



4,541 

1,094 

22 

18,632 

4,226 



13 



626 

32 

3,496 

363 

3,873 
18 

48 
29,459 



1,064 
8,552 



146,935 



Electoral 
Vote. 



22 

15 

13 

9 



14 
13 

7 



5 
3 
4 

36 

23 
3 

30 
4 



4 
11 



233 



3 

e 

S3 . 



10 

7 



6 
3 
4 

12 



13 



9 
16 



9 
11 



12 
13 

12 
6 



168 



333 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Cleveland lost his election in 1888 by his message to 
Congress, delivered a year before, making the tariff and 
revenue question the sole issue before the country. His 
message referred to no other question than the issue of 
reduced revenues and taxes. I saw him on Saturday night 
before the meeting of Congress, and with Speaker Carlisle, 
who was to be re-elected to the Speakership on the following 
Monday, earnestly urged him to modify his message. Car- 
lisle was quite as positive as I was in assuring him that it 
would result in disaster to himself and his administration. 
His answer was that possibly we were right, but that it was 
a duty that should be performed, and while he might fall, 
he believed the country would vindicate him at an early day. 
He was a man who gave very serious thought to his official 
duties, performed them with great fidelity, and when con- 
vinced as to his duty none could dissuade him from his 
purpose. But for that message he would certainly have been 
re-elected President in 1888. 

Cleveland entered the Presidency enjoying the confidence 
and respect of the country in a much larger degree than is 
usually accorded to new Presidents. His record as Mayor of 
Buffalo, as Governor of New York, and his political and 
official utterances generally were all in the line of the purest 
and best politics, and the sturdiness with which he main- 
tained his convictions even against all considerations of ex- 
pediency compelled the respect alike of friend and foe. No 
more conscientious man ever filled the Executive chair of the 
nation, and I doubt whether any other President gave such 
tireless labor to the duties of the office. His Cabinet officers 
were simply advisory as to the direction of their departments, 
and every question of importance came to him for final de- 
cision. I think he was as nearly capable of giving up the 
Presidency to maintain his convictions as any man who ever 
filled the position. 

He certainly knew when he sent his tariff message to Con- 
gress against the advice of nearly all of those upon whose 
political judgment he most depended, that he was inviting 
political disaster, and that he was inviting it when the Repub- 
lican leaders freely confessed their inability to defeat his re- 
election. He had inspired the interest of the best political 
elements of the country by his courageous support of civil 
service reform, that was then in its infancy. He did it with 
the full knowledge that he had a party behind him that was 

334 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

most unwilling to surrender the spoils of power to any sen- 
timent, however sacred. I met him very often during his first 
term, and was sometimes invited to come to the Executive 
Mansion after ten o'clock at night, when he would willingly 
converse until the small hours in the morning. These habits 
were improved when the beautiful and accomplished wife 
came as mistress to the White House, and it was delightful 
to see his ordinarily rather heavy face brighten when he 
spoke of the woman who had brought into his life a measure 
of happiness to which he had ever before been stranger. I 
met him frequently during the contest of 1888, and while he 
hoped that he might be re-elected he was not confident. I 
saw him soon after his defeat, and no man ever bore great 
political disaster with such serene philosophy. He knew that 
his tariff message had defeated him, but he said that he 
believed it better that he should be thus defeated than not to 
have faced the issue as he did. 

In reviewing the contest, he said that he had but a single 
unpleasant memory of it and its results, and that was that 
the malicious scandals of some of his most unscrupulous foes 
relating to his domestic life had brought sorrow to the " dear 
little woman," to use his own expression, who deserved the 
respect and protection of every one. Some of the desperate 
Tammany leaders had formulated the scandals against Cleve- 
land's domestic life, distributed them broadcast in a circular 
at the St. Louis convention, and there are always many whose 
political prejudices make them welcome and accept such 
assaults upon a political nominee. I was much with Cleve- 
land during his first and second terms of the Presidency, and 
also during the interval, and a more affectionate and devoted 
husband I have never seen. He was not a man to exhibit the 
arts of the demagogue, for to them he was an entire stranger, 
but I saw him tell the story of his home life more eloquently 
than words could ever have given it, when, on the 4th of 
March, 1893, as he was about to leave the large parlor of the 
Arlington, crowded with his many friends, to go to the in- 
auguration ceremony, he stepped up to his wife, gave her a 
hearty kiss and affectionately patted her on the head, as he 
bowed himself off to accept the highest civil trust of the 
world. 

Greatly as Cleveland's tariff message had obstructed his 
election, he would have succeeded but for the perfidy of Tam- 
many. He carried the country by nearly 100,000 popular 

335 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

majority, being much larger than the popular majority he re- 
ceived in 1884, but the electoral vote of New York lost him 
the Presidency. The betrayal of Cleveland by Tammany 
was clearly evident by the returns of the election in that 
State. Cleveland was at the head of the Democratic ticket 
for President, and Governor Hill, the favorite of Tammany, 
was on the same ticket for Governor, and he was re-elected 
by a majority of 19,171, while Cleveland lost the State by a 
majority of 14,373. Tammany and Mr. Dana, of the Sun, 
that was then the Tammany organ, had their revenge. 



THE CLEVELAND-HARRISON- 
WEAVER CONTEST 

1892 

President Harrison had anything but a tranquil adminis- 
tration. Soon after his inauguration bitter factional strife 
was developed, and he seemed never to be able to get into 
anything approaching close and sympathetic relations with 
the leaders of his party. He was much like Cleveland in his 
conscientious devotion to his public duties, and he was poorly 
equipped and had little taste for political direction. He was 
generally respected by the people of all parties, but he held 
the political leaders of his own faith at arm's length. Senator 
Quay called upon him soon after his inauguration, expecting 
to receive the generous thanks of the President for his man- 
agement of the desperate campaign that had given him and 
the party victory; but Quay's political trust in his chieftain 
was greatly chilled as the President congratulated his Field 
Marshal that Providence had been with them in the contest 
and carried them safely through. While Quay is of the same 
old-school Presbyterian stock as Harrison, and had the train- 
ing of his Presbyterian minister father, his faith in foreordi- 
nation was not so rugged as to assume that Providence 
would have carried Harrison through if Quay had not ex- 
hausted all political resources, regular and irregular, to 
wrest New York from Cleveland and give Harrison the vic- 
tory. Cameron, who had served in the Senate with Harrison, 
while he had entire faith in the integrity and ability of the 
new President, had no faith in his political usefulness, and 
from the start there were not the most cordial relations 
between the Pennsylvania Senators and the administration. 

Harrison had failed to carry the popular majority over 
Cleveland, and the Republican majority in both Senate and 
House was regarded as too small for the present and future 

337 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

safety of the party. It was this political necessity that led 
to the admission of the six new States of North and South 
Dakota, Montana. Idaho. Washington, and Wyoming, which 
were expected to bring 12 additional Republican Senators, 7 
additional Republican Congressmen, and 19 additional Re- 
publican electoral votes. How sadly the Republican leaders 
miscalculated on these new States is shown by the fact that 
Idaho and North Dakota voted for Weaver, while Montana 
and Wyoming were saved by nominal majorities, and all of 
these States, with the exception of North Dakota, voted 
against the Republican candidate for President in 1896. 

The small Republican majority in the House was rapidly 
and ruthlessly increased by admitting Republican contestants 
regardless of the merits of their claims, and the whole policy 
of the Republican leadership, outside of Harrison himself, 
who did not inspire it, was to maintain Republican supremacy 
by might, regardless of right. Not only were six new States 
added, but a new Force bill was decided upon to restore 
Republican supremacy in the South. The attempt to revive 
such a measure was simply midsummer madness, as it was 
opposed by the entire conservative Republican element and 
arrayed the South in implacable hostility to the administra- 
tion. Blaine had defeated the Force bill when it was urged 
under the Grant administration, and Senator J. Donald 
Cameron defeated it under the Harrison administration. 
Cameron had decided the contest between M. C. Butler, 
Democrat, and David T. Corbin, Republican, of South 
Carolina, in 1877. Corbin was one of the ablest of the South 
Carolina carpet-baggers, and was elected by the Republican 
Legislature, that had been finally dispersed by President 
Hayes refusing to support it, and Butler had been elected 
by the Hampton or Democratic Legislature. 

There was a peculiar condition of affairs in South Carolina 
at the time. Patterson, the Republican Senator from that 
State, was a fugitive after the Hampton Government attained 
power, and Small. Cardoza, and a number of other colored 
leaders and officials in the State were under indictment for 
embezzlement and other frauds, and some of them had been 
convicted. On the other side, a number of Democratic 
citizens of South Carolina were under indictment in the 
Federal Courts for outrages perpetrated by them in the 
Ku Klux organization, and had the course of justice been 
permitted to go on without interruption, a large number of 

338 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

the leaders of both sides would have ended in prison. A 
truce was agreed upon, and finally an unwritten but well- 
maintained agreement was reached that there should be no 
further prosecution of the Ku Klux clan, and no further 
prosecution of Senator Patterson or any of the other Repub- 
licans who were then at the mercy of the Democrats. This 
was assented to by the Democrats on condition that Butler 
should be admitted to the Senate, and Cameron was the 
man who accomplished it. 

When the new Force bill came up under the Harrison 
administration, Cameron was earnestly opposed to it, and 
he is entitled to the full credit of having defeated it. His 
Senatorial term expired on the 4th of March, 1891, and he 
was a candidate for re-election before a Republican Legis- 
lature that had been chosen in the fall of 1890, when the 
Democrats elected Pattison, Democrat, to his second term 
as Governor. It was expected that the vote on the Force 
bill would be had before the Senatorial election, and Cameron 
was threatened with defeat if he did not line up with the 
party in its favor. A majority of the considerate Repub- 
licans of Pennsylvania doubtless agreed with him, but he 
had many political enemies, and they would have been glad 
had he given them an opportunity to attack him as opposing 
the accepted policy of the party. 

Some time before the Legislature met, Cameron requested 
me to meet him at the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia. 
He stated the case frankly; said he could command the 
Republican nomination for Senator without a doubt and 
by a large majority, but that if the Democrats would unite 
with the bolting Republicans, he might be defeated if a vote 
was reached on the Force bill before the Senatorial election 
and he voting against it. What he desired was the assur- 
ance that if Cameron was threatened with defeat by the 
Republicans because of his opposition to the Force bill, the 
Democrats should not permit him to be crucified for opposing 
and defeating a bill that they were most anxious to have 
defeated. Pattison had been elected Governor and William 
F. Harrity had been announced as the coming Secretary of 
the Commonwealth. I said to Cameron that both of them 
were within two squares of us and that I could ascertain 
their views in a very few minutes. I immediately called on 
Pattison and Harrity, presented the case to them, and they 
both authorized me to give the assurance to Senator Cameron 

339 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



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.;-- 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

tion, but the swiftly changing events of American politics 
made him what was regarded as a hopeful candidate before 
a ballot was reached, and he was voted for by all of his 
Ohio delegates, excepting himself, who voted for Harrison. 
The ist and only ballot resulted as follows: 



Benjamin Harrison, Ind...535| 
James G. Blaine, Maine. . . 182f 
Wm. McKinley, Jr., Ohio.. 182 



Thomas B. Reed, Maine 4 

Robert T. Lincoln, Illinois.. 1 



Whitelaw Reid, of New York, was nominated for Vice- 
President by acclamation. The following platform was 
unanimously adopted : 

The representatives of the Republicans of the United States, as- 
sembled in general convention on the shores of the Mississippi River, 
the everlasting bond of an indestructible republic, whose most 
glorious chapter of history is the record of the Republican party, 
congratulate their countrymen on the majestic march of the nation 
under the banners inscribed with the principles of our platform of 
1888, vindicated by victory at the polls and prosperity in our fields, 
workshops, and mines, and make the following declaration of prin- 
ciples : 

We reaffirm the American doctrine of protection. We call atten- 
tion to its growth abroad. We maintain that the prosperous condi- 
tion of our country is largely due to the wise revenue legislation of 
the Republican Congress. 

We believe that all articles which cannot be produced in the United 
States, except luxuries, should be admitted free of duty, and that 
on all imports coming into competition with the products of Amer- 
ican labor there should be levied duties equal to the difference be- 
tween wages abroad and at home. 

We assert that the prices of manufactured articles of general con- 
sumption have been reduced under the operations of the Tariff Act 
of 1890. 

We denounce the efforts of the Democratic majority of the House 
of Representatives to destroy our tariff laws piecemeal, as is mani- 
fested by their attacks upon wool, lead, and lead ores, the chief prod- 
ucts of a number of States, and we ask the people for their judgment 
thereon. 

We point to the success of the Republican policy of reciprocity, 
under which our export trade has vastly increased, and new and 
enlarged markets have been opened for the products of our farms 
and workshops. 

We remind the people of the bitter opposition of the Democratic 
party to this practical business measure, and claim that, executed by 
a Republican administration, our present laws will eventually give us 
control of the trade of the world. 

The American people, from tradition and interest, favor bimetal- 
lism, and the Republican party demands the use of both gold and sil- 
ver as standard money, with such restrictions and under such pro- 



341 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

visions, to be determined by legislation, as will secure the mainte- 
nance of the parity of values of the two metals, so that the purchas- 
ing and debt-paying power of the dollar, whether of silver, gold, or 
paper, shall be at all times equal. The interests of the producers 
of the country, its farmers and its workingmen, demand that every 
dollar, paper or coin, issued by the Government, shall be as good as 
any other. 

We commend the wise and patriotic steps already taken by our 
Government to secure an international conference to adopt such 
measures as will insure a parity of value between gold and silver 
for use as money throughout the world. 

We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be al- 
lowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public elections, 
and that such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast; that such 
laws shall be enacted and enforced as will secure to every citizen, 
be he rich or poor, native or foreign born, white or black, this sov- 
ereign right guaranteed by the Constitution. The free and honest 
popular ballot, the just and equal representation of all the people, as 
well as their just and equal protection under the laws, are the foun- 
dation of our republican institutions, and the party will never relax 
its efforts until the integrity of the ballot and the purity of elections 
shall be fully guaranteed and protected in every State. 

We denounce the continued inhuman outrages perpetrated upon 
American citizens for political reasons in certain Southern ' States 
of the Union. 

We favor the extension of our foreign commerce, the restoration 
of our mercantile marine by home-built ships, and the creation of a 
navy for the protection of our national interests and the honor of 
our flag: the maintenance of the most friendly relations with all 
foreign powers, entangling alliances with none, and the protection 
of the rights of our fishermen. 

We reaffirm our approval of the Monroe Doctrine, and believe in 
the achievement of the manifest destiny of tHe Republic in its broad- 
est sense. 

We favor the enactment of more stringent laws and regulations 
for the restriction of criminal, pauper, and contract immigration. 

We favor efficient legislation by Congress to protect the life and 
limbs of employes of transportation companies engaged in carrying 
on interstate commerce, and recommend legislation by the respective 
States that will protect employes engaged in State commerce, in 
mining, and manufacturing. 

The Republican party has always been the champion of the 
oppressed, and recognizes the dignity of manhood, irrespective of 
faith, color, or nationality ; it sympathizes with the cause of home 
rule in Ireland, and protests against the persecution of the Jews in 
Russia. 

The ultimate reliance of free popular government is the intelli- 
gence of the people and the maintenance of freedom among men. 
We therefore declare anew our devotion to liberty of thought and 
conscience, of speech and press, and approve all agencies and instru- 
mentalities which contribute to the education of the children of the 
land; but, while insisting upon the fullest measure of religious lib- 
erty, we are opposed to any union of Church and State. 

We reaffirm our opposition, declared in the Republican platform 

342 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

of 1888, to all combinations of capital, organized in trusts or other- 
wise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens. 
We heartily endorse the action already taken upon this subject, and 
ask for such further legislation as may be required to .remedy any 
defects in existing laws, and to render their enforcement more 
complete and effective. 

We approve the policy of extending to towns, villages, and rural 
communities the advantages of the free delivery service, now en- 
joyed by the larger cities of the country, and reaffirm the declara- 
tion contained in the Republican platform of 1888, pledging the 
reduction of letter postage to one cent, at the earliest possible mo- 
ment consistent with the maintenance of the Post-office Department, 
and the highest class of postal service. 

We commend the spirit and evidence of reform in the civil ser- 
vice, and the wise and consistent enforcement by the Republican 
party of the laws regulating the same. 

The construction of the Nicaragua Canal is of the highest impor- 
tance to the American people, both as a measure of national defence 
and to build up and maintain American commerce, and it should be 
controlled by the United States Government. 

We favor the admission of the remaining Territories at the earliest 
practical date, having due regard to the interests of the people of 
the Territories and of the United States. All the Federal officers 
appointed for the Territories should be selected from bona fide 
residents thereof, and the right of self-government should be ac- 
corded as far as practicable. 

We favor cession, subject to the homestead laws, of the arid pub- 
lic lands to the States and Territories in which they lie, under such 
Congressional restrictions as to disposition, reclamation, and occu- 
pancy by settlers as will secure the maximum benefits to the people. 

The World's Columbian Exposition is a great national under- 
taking, and Congress should promptly enact such reasonable legis- 
lation in aid thereof as will insure a discharge of the expenses and 
obligations incident thereto, and the attainment of results commen- 
surate with the dignity and progress of the nation. 

In temperance we sympathize with all wise and legitimate efforts 
to lessen and prevent the evils of intemperance and promote moral- 
Ever mindful of the services and sacrifices of the men who saved 
the life of the nation, we pledge anew to the veteran soldiers of the 
Republic a watchful care and recognition of their just claims upon a 
grateful people. 

We commend the able, patriotic, and thoroughly American admin- 
istration of President Harrison. Under it the country has enjoyed 
remarkable prosperity, and the dignity and honor of the nation, at 
home and abroad, have been faithfully maintained, and we offer the 
record of pledges kept as a guarantee of faithful performance in the 
future. 

The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago on 
June 21, and Cleveland was nominated for a third time after 
the most desperate and acrimonious strife I have ever wit- 
nessed in a national convention. It was on that occasion 

343 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

that Bourke Cockran made a speech against Cleveland that 
gave him national fame, and it was one of extraordinary 
ability and power. The convention was really adverse to 
Cleveland's nomination. Had a majority of the delegates 
followed their own personal inclinations he would have been 
defeated, and he was nominated solely by the matchless lead- 
ership of William C. Whitney. But for him and his won- 
derful skill and energy, the convention would have run away 
from Cleveland at the outset. Never in the history of Amer- 
ican politics w r as there such an achievement as the nomina- 
tion of Cleveland over the solid and aggressively hostile vote 
of his own State of New York, that was regarded as the 
pivotal State of the battle. Tammany had always opposed 
Cleveland in national conventions, but never before had con- 
trol of the delegation against him, and a protest was pub- 
lished to the convention signed by every delegate from the 
State, demanding his defeat. 

Cleveland was strong with the people, but weak with the 
political leaders, and it was only Whitney's masterful man- 
agement of the convention that held it to Cleveland. The 
platform was made by the enemies of Cleveland ; the nomi- 
nation for Vice-President was made over his friends, and 
the hostility to him was so pronounced that the opposing 
leaders were confident of his defeat at the polls. The con- 
vention sat at night and far on in the morning hours, when 
Cleveland received 617 votes, just ten more than were neces- 
sary to nominate him. Had he not been nominated on that 
ballot his defeat would have been certain. 

The strength of Cleveland's position before the people was 
pointedly illustrated by his nomination in a convention that 
was not specially friendly, but that was forced to make him 
the candidate because of the overwhelming popular Demo- 
cratic sentiment that demanded it. A year or so before the 
convention met, he had written a brief and positive letter 
against the free coinage of silver, and the Democrats of the 
South and W^est almost with one voice declared against him 
at the time, but when the Democratic people faced the con- 
ditions presented by the battle of 1892, the masses came to 
the support of Cleveland and the leaders were compelled to 
follow. The cheap-money craze had made serious inroads 
in both of the great parties, and the Republican platform 
was a weak and awkward straddle of the whole issue, while 
the Democratic convention had an honest money plank 

344 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

declaring for bimetallism and the free use of gold and silver 
with the intrinsic value of the dollar to be maintained. 

The Democratic Convention at Chicago was presided over 
by William C. Owens, of Kentucky, as temporary president, 
and William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, as permanent 
president. After a protracted and acrimonious discussion 
that extended the session of the convention of the second day 
until long after midnight, the ballot for President was finally 
reached, resulting as follows : 



Grover Cleveland, N. Y. ..617^ 

David B. Hill, N. Y 114 

Horace Boies, Iowa 103 

Arthur P. Gorman, Md. . . 36^ 
Adlai E. Stevenson, 111... 16% 
John G. Carlisle, Ky 14 



Wm. R. Morrison, 111 3 

James E. Campbell, Ohio. ... 2 

Wm. C. Whitney, N. Y 1 

Wm. E. Russell, Mass 1 

Robert E. Pattison, Penn .... 1 



There was an animated contest for Vice-President, and 
the special friends of Cleveland were united in favor of Isaac 
P. Gray, of Indiana, but they were defeated in their choice, 
as they were on several vital points of the platform. Only 
one ballot was had for Vice-President, resulting as follows : 



Adlai E. Stevenson, 111 402 

Isaac P. Gray, Ind. 344 

Allen B. Morse,Mich 86 

John L. Mitchell, Wis 45 



Henry Watterson, Ky 26 

Bourke Cockran, N. Y 5 

Lambert Tree, 111 1 

Horace Boies, Iowa 1 



Stevenson had not received the requisite two-thirds, but 
he so far outstripped the candidate of the Cleveland leaders 
that they cordially acquiesced, and the nomination of Steven- 
son was made unanimous. The following platform was 
adopted after having been amended in open convention, 
where the tariff plank of the platform was substituted for 
the more temperate plank reported by the committee, by a 
vote of 564 to 342. 

Section i. The representatives of the Democratic party of the 
United States, in national convention assembled, do reaffirm their 
allegiance to the principles of the party as formulated by Jeffer- 
son, and exemplified by the long and illustrious line of his suc- 
cessors in Democratic leadership, from Madison to Cleveland ; we 
believe the public welfare demands that these principles be applied 
to the conduct of the Federal Government through the accession 
to power of the party that advocates them; and we solemnly de- 
clare that the need of a return to these fundamental principles of 
a free popular government, based on home rule and individual 



345 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

liberty, was never more urgent than now, when the tendency to 
centralize all power at the Federal capital has become a menace 
to the reserved rights of the States that strikes at the very roots of 
our Government under the Constitution as framed by the fathers 
of the Republic. 

Sec. 2. We warn the people of our common country, jealous for 
the preservation of their free institutions, that the policy of Federal 
control of elections to which the Republican party has committed 
itself is fraught with the greatest dangers, scarcely less momentous 
than would result from a revolution practically establishing mon- 
archy on the ruins of the Republic. It strikes at the North as well 
as the South, and injures the colored citizen even more than the 
white. It means a horde of deputy marshals at every polling-place 
armed with Federal power, returning boards appointed and con- 
trolled by Federal authority, the outrage of the electoral rights of 
the people in the several States, the subjugation of the colored peo- 
ple to the control of the party in power, and the reviving of race 
antagonisms now happily abated, of the utmost peril to the safety 
and happiness of all; a measure deliberately and justly described 
by a leading Republican Senator as " the most infamous bill that 
ever crossed the threshold of the Senate." Such a policy, if sanc- 
tioned by law, would mean the dominance of a self-perpetuating 
oligarchy of office-holders, and the party first intrusted with its ma- 
chinery could be dislodged from power only by an appeal to the re- 
served right of the people to resist oppression, which is inherent in 
all self-governing communities. Two years ago, this revolutionary 
policy was emphatically condemned by the people at the polls ; but 
in contempt of that verdict, the Republican party has defiantly de- 
clared in its latest authoritative utterance that its success in the 
coming elections will mean the enactment of the Force bill, and the 
usurpation of despotic control over elections in all the States. Be- 
lieving that the preservation of republican government in the United 
States is dependent upon the defeat of this policy of legalized force 
and fraud; we invite the support of all citizens who desire to see 
the Constitution maintained in its integrity, with the laws pursuant 
thereto, which have given our country a hundred years of unex- 
ampled prosperity ; and we pledge the Democratic party, if it be 
intrusted with power, not only to the defeat of the Force bill, but 
also to relentless opposition to the Republican policy of profligate 
expenditure, which in the short space of two years has squandered 
an enormous surplus, and emptied an overflowing treasury, after 
piling new burdens of taxation upon the already overtaxed labor 
of the country. 

Sec. 3. We denounce the Republican protection as a fraud, a 
robbery of the great majority of the American people for the benefit 
of the few. We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the 
Democratic party that the Federal Government has no constitu- 
tional power to impose and collect tariff duties, except for the pur- 
poses of revenue only, and we demand that the collection of such 
taxes shall be limited to the necessities of the Government when 
honestly and economically administered. 

We denounce the McKinley Tariff law enacted by the Fifty-first 
Congress as the culminating atrocity of class legislation ; we endorse 
the efforts made by the Democrats of the present Congress to modify 

346 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

its most oppressive features in the direction of free raw materials 
and cheaper manufactured goods that enter into general consump- 
tion, and we promise its repeal as one of the beneficent results that 
will follow the action of the people in intrusting power to the 
Democratic party. Since the McKinley Tariff went into operation, 
there have been ten reductions of the wages of laboring men to 
one increase. We deny that there has been any increase of pros- 
perity to the country since that tariff went into operation, and we 
point to the dulness and distress, the wage reductions and strikes 
in the iron trade, as the best possible evidence that no such prosperity 
has resulted from the McKinley act. 

We call the attention of thoughtful Americans to the fact that, 
after thirty years of restrictive taxes against the importation of 
foreign wealth in exchange for our agricultural surplus, the homes 
and farms of the country have become burdened with a real estate 
mortgage debt of over $2,500,000,000, exclusive of all other forms 
of indebtedness ; that in one of the chief agricultural States of the 
West there appears a real estate mortgage debt averaging $165 
per capita of the total population, and that similar conditions and 
tendencies are shown to exist in the other agricultural exporting 
States. We denounce a policy which fosters no industry so much 
as it does that of the sheriff. 

Sec. 4. Trade interchange on the basis of reciprocal advantage to 
the countries participating is a time-honored doctrine of the Demo- 
cratic faith; but we denounce the sham reciprocity which juggles 
with the people's desire for enlarged foreign markets and freer 
exchanges by pretending to establish closer trade relations for a 
country whose articles of export are almost exclusively agricul- 
tural products with other countries that are also agricultural, while 
erecting a custom-house barrier of prohibitive tariff taxes against 
the richest countries of the world, that stand ready to take our 
entire surplus of products, and to exchange therefor commodities 
which are necessaries and comforts of life among our own people. 

Sec. 5. We recognize, in the trusts and combinations which are 
designed to enable capital to secure more than its just share of 
the joint, product of capital and labor, a natural consequence of the 
prohibitive taxes which prevent the free competition which is the 
life of honest trade, but we believe their worst evils can be abated 
by law ; and we demand the rigid enforcement of the laws made 
to prevent and control them, together with such further legisla- 
tion in restraint of their abuses as experience may show to be 
necessary. 

Sec. 6. The Republican party, while professing a policy of re- 
serving the public land for small holdings by actual settlers, has 
given away the people's heritage, till now a few railroad and non- 
resident aliens, individual and corporate, possess a larger area than 
that of all our farms between the two seas. The last Democratic 
administration reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the 
Republican party touching the public domain, and reclaimed from 
corporations and syndicates, alien and domestic, and restored to 
the people, nearly 100,000,000 acres of valuable land, to be sacredly 
held as homesteads for our citizens, and we pledge ourselves to 
continue this policy until every acre of land so unlawfully held shall 
be reclaimed and restored to the people. 

347 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Sec. 7. We denounce the Republican legislation known as the 
Sherman act of 1890 as a cowardly makeshift, fraught with possi- 
bilities of danger in the future which should make all of its sup- 
porters, as well as its author, anxious for its speedy repeal. We 
hold to the use of both gold and silver as the standard money of 
the country, and to the coinage of both gold and silver without 
discrimination against either metal or charge for mintage; but 
the dollar unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal intrinsic 
and exchangeable value, or be adjusted through international agree- 
ment, or by such safeguards of legislation as shall insure the main- 
tenance of the parity of the two metals, and the equal power of 
every dollar at all times in the markets and in the payment of debts; 
and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept at par with and 
redeemable in such coin. We insist upon this policy as especially 
necessary for the protection of the farmers and laboring classes, the 
first and most defenceless victims of unstable money and a fluctuating 
currency. 

Sec. 8. We recommend that the prohibitory ten per cent, tax on 
State bank issues be repealed. 

_ Sec. 9. Public office is a public trust. We reaffirm the declara- 
tion of the Democratic National Convention of 1876 for the reform 
of the civil service, and we call for the honest enforcement of all 
laws regulating the same. The nomination of a President, as in 
the recent Republican convention, by delegations composed largely 
of his appointees, holding office at his pleasure, is a scandalous satire 
upon free popular institutions, and a startling illustration of the 
methods by which a President may gratify his ambition. We de- 
nounce a policy under which Federal office-holders usurp control of 
party conventions in the States, and we pledge the Democratic party 
to the reform of these and all other abuses which threaten individual 
liberty and local self-government. 

Sec. 10. The Democratic party is the only party that has ever 
given the country a foreign policy consistent and vigorous, com- 
pelling respect abroad and inspiring confidence at home. While 
avoiding entangling alliances, it has aimed to cultivate friendly 
relations with other nations, and especially with our American 
neighbors on the American continent whose destiny is closely 
linked with our own, and we view with alarm the tendency to a 
policy of irritation and bluster which is liable at any time to con- 
front us with the alternative of humiliation or war. We favor the 
maintenance of a navy strong enough for all purposes of national 
defence, and to properly maintain the honor and dignity of the 
country abroad. 

Sec. 11. This country has always been the refuge of the op- 
pressed from every land — exiles for conscience' sake; and in the 
spirit of the founders of our Government, we condemn the oppres- 
sion practised by the Russian Government upon its Lutheran and 
Jewish subjects, and we call upon our National Government, in the 
interest of justice and humanity, by all just and proper means, to 
use its prompt and best efforts to bring about a cessation of these 
cruel persecutions in the dominions of the Czar, and to secure to 
the oppressed equal rights. We tender our profound and earnest 
sympathy to those lovers of freedom who are struggling for home 
rule and the great cause of local self-government in Ireland. 

348 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Sec. 12. We heartily approve all legitimate efforts to prevent the 
United States from being used as the dumping-ground for the known 
criminals and professional paupers of Europe; and we demand the 
rigid enforcement of the laws against Chinese immigration, or the 
importation of foreign workmen under contract, to degrade Ameri- 
can labor and lessen its wages; but we condemn and denounce any 
and all attempts to restrict the immigration of the industrious and 
worthy of foreign lands. 

Sec. 13. This convention hereby renews the expression of ap- 
preciation of the patriotism of the soldiers and sailors of the Union 
in the war for its preservation, and we favor just and liberal pen- 
sions for all disabled Union soldiers, their widows and dependents; 
but we demand that the work of the Pension Office shall be done 
industriously, impartially, and honestly. We denounce the present 
administration of that office as incompetent, corrupt, disgraceful, 
and dishonest. 

Sec. 14. The Federal Government should care for and improve 
the Mississippi River and other great waterways of the Republic, 
so as to secure for the interior States easy and cheap transporta- 
tion to the tidewater. When any waterway of the Republic is of 
sufficient importance to demand the aid of the Government, ' such 
aid should be extended for a denfinite plan of continuous work until 
permanent improvement is secured. 

Sec. 15. For purposes of national defence and the promotion of 
commerce between the States, we recognize the early construction 
of the Nicaragua Canal, and its protection against foreign control, 
as of great importance to the United States. 

Sec. 16. Recognizing the World's Columbian Exposition as a 
national undertaking of vast importance, in which the General Gov- 
ernment has invited the co-operation of all the powers of the world, 
and appreciating the acceptance by many of such powers of the 
invitation extended, and the broadest liberal efforts being made by 
them to contribute to the grandeur of the undertaking, we are of 
the opinion that Congress should make such necessary financial pro- 
vision as shall be requisite to the maintenance of the national honor 
and public faith. 

Sec. 17. Popular education being the only safe basis of popular 
suffrage, we recommend to the several States most liberal appro- 
priations for the public schools. Free common schools are the 
nursery of good government, and they have always received the 
fostering care of the Democratic party, which favors every means 
of increasing intelligence. Freedom of education, being an essen- 
tial of civil and religious liberty, as well as a necessity for the de- 
velopment of intelligence, must not be interfered with under any 
pretext whatever. We are opposed to State interference with pa- 
rental rights and rights of conscience in the education of children, 
as an infringement of the fundamental Democratic doctrine that 
the largest individual liberty consistent with the rights of others 
insures the highest type of American citizenship and the best 
government. 

Sec. 18. We approve the action of the present House of Repre- 
sentatives in passing bills for the admission into the Union as States 
of the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, and we favor the 
early admission of all the Territories having necessary population 

349 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

and resources to admit them to Statehood ; and. while the}' remain 
Territories, we hold that the officials appointed to administer the 
government of any Territory, together with the Districts of Columbia 
and Alaska, should be bona fide residents of the Territory or dis- 
trict in which their duties are to be performed. The Democratic 
party believes in home rule, and the control of their own affairs by 
the people of the vicinage. 

Sec. 19. We favor legislation by Congress and State Legislatures 
to protect the lives and limbs of railway employees, and those of 
other hazardous transportation companies, and denounce the inac- 
tivity of the Republican party, and particularly the Republican 
Senate, for causing the defeat of measures beneficial and protective 
to this class of wageworkers. 

Sec. 20. We are in favor of the enactment by the States of laws 
for abolishing the notorious sweating system, for abolishing con- 
tract convict labor, and for prohibiting the employment in factories 
of children under fifteen 3-ears of age. 

Sec. 21. We are opposed to all sumptuary laws as an interfer- 
ence with the individual rights of the citizen. 

Sec 22. Upon this statement of principles and policies, the 
Democratic party asks the intelligent judgment of the American 
people. It asks a change of administration and a change of party 
in order that there may be a change of system and a change of 
methods, thus assuring the maintenance unimpaired of institutions 
under which the Republic has grown great and powerful. 

The platform, as originally reported, contained, instead of 
of the first paragraph of Section 3 above, the following : 

We reiterate the oft-repeated doctrines of the Democratic party 
that the necessity of the Government is the only justification for 
taxation, and whenever a tax is unnecessary it is unjustifiable; that 
when custom-house taxation is levied upon articles of any kind 
produced. in this country, the difference between the cost of labor 
here and labor abroad, when such a difference exists, fully 
measures any possible benefits to labor; and the enormous addi- 
tional impositions of the existing tariff fall with crushing force 
upon our farmers and workingmen, and, for the mere advantage 
of the few whom it enriches, exact from labor a grossly unjust 
share of the expenses of the Government; and we demand such a 
revision of the tariff laws as will remove their iniquitous inequali- 
ties, lighten their oppressions, and put them on a constitutional and 
equitable basis. But in making reduction in taxes, it is not proposed 
to injure any domestic industries, but rather to promote their healthy 
growth. From the foundation of this Government, taxes collected 
at the custom-house have been the chief source of Federal revenue. 
Such they must continue to be. Moreover, many industries have 
come to rely upon legislation for successful continuance, so that any 
change of law must be at every step regardful of the labor and 
capital thus involved. The process of reform must be subject in 
the execution to this plain dictate of justice. 

The National Prohibition Convention was held at Cincin- 
nati on the 29th of June, with John P. St. John, of Kansas, 

350 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

as temporary chairman, and Eli Ritter, of Indiana, as per- 
manent chairman. The convention remained in session two 
days. The following was the only ballot for President : 



John Bidwell, Cal 590 

Gideon T. Stewart, Ohio... 179 



W. J. Demorest, N. Y 139 

Scattering , 3 



A single ballot was had for Vice-President, as follows 



L P. Cranfill, Texas 417 

Joshua Levering, Md 351 



W. W. Satterlee, Minn. ... 26 
T. R. Carskoden, W. Va . . 19 



The nominations of Bidwell and Cranfill were made unani- 
mous. The following platform was adopted : 

The Prohibition party, in national convention assembled, ac- 
knowledging Almighty God as the source of all true government, 
and His law as the standard to which all human enactments must 
conform to secure the blessings of peace and prosperity, presents 
the following declaration of principles : 

i. The liquor traffic is a foe to civilization, the arch enemy of 
popular government, and a public nuisance. It is the citadel of the 
forces that corrupt politics, promote poverty and crime, degrade 
the nation's home life, thwart the will of the people, and deliver 
our country into the hands of rapacious class interests. All laws 
that, under the guise of regulation, legalize and protect this traffic, 
or make the Government share in its ill-gotten gains, are " vicious 
in principle and powerless as a remedy." 

We declare anew for the entire suppression of the manufacture, 
sale, importation, exportation, and transportation of alcoholic liq- 
uors as a beverage, by Federal and State legislation; and the full 
powers of the Government should be exerted to secure this result. 
Any party that fails to recognize the dominant nature of this issue 
in American politics is undeserving of the support of the people. 

2. No citizen should be denied the right to vote on account of 
sex, and equal labor should receive equal wages, without regard 
to sex. 

3. The money of the country should be gold, silver, and paper, 
and be issued by the General Government only, and in sufficient 
quantities to meet the demands of business and give full opportu- 
nity for the employment of labor. To this end an increase in the 
volume of money is demanded, and no individual or corporation 
should be allowed to make any profit through its issue. It should 
be made a legal tender for the payment of all debts, public and 
private. Its volume should be fixed at a definite sum per capita, 
and made to increase with our increase in population. 

4. We favor the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold. 
(Rejected by the convention.) 

5. Tariffs should be levied only as a defence against foreign gov- 
ernments which put tariffs upon or bar our products from their 

351 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

markets, revenue being incidental. The residue of means necessary 
to an economical administration of the Government should be raised 
by levying a burden on what the people possess instead of upon what 
we consume. 

6. Railroad, telegraph, and other public corporations should be 
controlled by the Government in the interest of the people, and no 
higher charges allowed than necessary to give fair interest on the 
capital actually invested. 

7. Foreign immigration has become a burden upon industry, one 
of the factors in depressing wages and causing discontent : there- 
fore our immigration laws should be revised and strictly enforced. 
The time of residence for naturalization should be extended, and 
no naturalized person should be allowed to vote until one year after 
he becomes a citizen. 

8. Non-resident aliens should not be allowed to acquire land in 
this country, and we favor the limitation of individual and cor- 
porate ownership of land. All unearned grants of lands to railroad 
companies or other corporations should be reclaimed. 

9. Years of inaction and treachery on the part of the Republican 
and Democratic parties have resulted in the present reign of mob 
law, and we demand that every citizen be protected in the right of 
trial by constitutional tribunals. 

10. All men should be protected by law in their right to one day's 
rest in seven. 

11. Arbitration is the wisest and most economical and humane 
method of settling national differences. 

12. Speculations in margins, the cornering of grain, money, and 
products, and the formation of pools, trusts, and combinations for 
the arbitrary advancement of prices, should be suppressed. 

13. We pledge that the Prohibition party 7 if elected to power will 
ever grant just pensions to disabled veterans of the Union army 
and navy, their widows and orphans. 

14. We stand unequivocally for the American public school, and 
opposed to any appropriation of public moneys for sectarian schools. 
We declare that only by united support of such common schools, 
taught in the English language, can we hope to become and remain 
an homogeneous and harmonious people. 

15. We arraign the Republican and Democratic parties as false 
to the standards reared by their founders ; as faithless to the prin- 
ciples of the illustrious leaders of the past to whom the}' do homage 
with the lips; as recreant to the " higher law," which is as inflexible 
in political affairs as in personal life; and as no longer embodying 
the aspirations of the American people, or inviting the confidence of 
enlightened progressive patriotism. Their protests against the ad- 
mission of " moral issues" into politics is a confession of their own 
moral degenerac3^. The declaration of an eminent authority, that 
municipal misrule is " the one conspicuous failure of American 
politics," follows as a natural consequence of such degeneracy, and 
is true alike of cities under Republican and Democratic control. 
Each accuses the other of extravagance in Congressional appropria- 
tions, and both are alike guilty : each protests when out of power 
against the infraction of the civil service laws, and each when in 
power violates those laws in letter and spirit ; each professes fealty 
to the interests of the toiling masses, but both covertly truckle to 

352 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

the money power in their administration of public affairs. Even the 
tariff issue, as represented in the Democratic Mills bill and the 
Republican McKinley bill, is no longer treated by them as an issue 
upon great and divergent principles of government, but is a mere 
catering to different sectional and class interests. The attempt in 
many States to wrest the Australian ballot system from its true 
purpose, and to so deform it as to render it extremely difficult for 
new parties to exercise the rights of suffrage, is an outrage upon 
popular government. The competition of both the parties for the 
vote of the slums, and their assiduous courting of the liquor power 
and subserviency to the money power, have resulted in placing those 
powers in the position of practical arbiters of the destinies of the 
nation. We renew our protest against these perilous tendencies, and 
invite all citizens to join us in the upbuilding of a party that, as 
shown in five national campaigns, prefers temporary defeat to an 
abandonment of the claims of justice, sobriety, personal rights, and 
the protection of American homes. 

The only opposition being to the fourth resolution declar- 
ing for the free coinage of silver, that was defeated by a vote 
of 596 to 335. 

The campaign of 1892 gave birth to the People's party, 
that embraced the old Greenbackers and most of the other 
odds and ends of former side political organizations, and 
it proved to be an important factor in the struggle. It held 
its national convention at Omaha on the 26. of July, with 
C. H. Ellington, of Georgia, as temporary chairman and 
H. L. Loucks, of South Dakota, as permanent president. 
The 1st and only ballot for President resulted as follows : 



James B. Weaver, Iowa . . . .995 
James H. Kyle, S. D 265 



Scattering 



Only one ballot was had for Vice-President, as follows : 



James G. Field, Virginia. . .733 II Benj. S. Terrell, Texas, 



554 



The nominations of Weaver and Field were made unani- 
mous and the following platform adopted : 

Assembled upon the 116th anniversary of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, the People's party of America, in their first national con- 
vention, invoking upon their action the blessing of Almighty God, 
puts forth, in the name and on behalf of the people of this country, 
the following preamble and declaration of principles : 

The conditions which surround us best justify our co-operation; 
we meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, 
political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, 
the Legislature, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the 

353 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

bench. The people are demoralized; most of the States have been 
compelled to isolate the voters at the polling-places to prevent uni- 
versal intimidation or bribery. The newspapers are largely subsi- 
dized or muzzled ; public opinion silenced ; business prostrated ; our 
homes covered with mortgages ; labor impoverished ; and the land 
concentrating in the hands of the capitalists. The urban workmen 
are denied the right of organization for self-protection; imported 
pauperized labor beats down their wages; a hireling standing army, 
unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down, and 
they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions. The fruits 
of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes 
for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the pos- 
sessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty. 
From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed 
the two great classes of tramps and millionaires. 

The national power to create money is appropriated to enrich bond- 
holders; a vast public debt, payable in legal tender currency, has 
been funded into gold-bearing bonds, thereby adding millions to the 
burdens of the people. Silver, which has been accepted as coin 
since the dawn of history, has been demonetized to add to the pur- 
chasing power of gold by decreasing the value of all forms of prop- 
erty as well as human labor ; and the supply of currency is purposely 
abridged to fatten usurers, bankrupt enterprise, and enslave industry. 
A vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized on two con- 
tinents, and it is rapidly taking possession of the world. If not met 
and overthrown at once, it forebodes terrible social convulsions, the 
destruction of civilization, or the establishment of an absolute des- 
potism. 

We have witnessed for more than a quarter of a century the strug- 
gles of the two great political parties for power and plunder, while 
grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon the suffering people. We 
charge that the controlling influences dominating both these parties 
have permitted the existing dreadful condition to develop without 
serious effort to prevent or restrain them. Neither do they now 
promise us any substantial reform. They have agreed together to 
ignore in the campaign every issue but one. They propose to drown 
the outcries of a plundered people with the uproar of a sham battle 
over the tariff, so that capitalists, corporations, national banks, rings, 
trusts, watered stock, the demonetization of silver, and the oppres- 
sions of the usurers may all be lost sight of. They propose to sac- 
rifice our homes, lives, and children on the altar of mammon ; to 
destroy the multitude in order to secure corruption funds from the 
millionaires. 

Assembled on the anniversary of the birthday of the nation, and 
filled with the spirit of the grand general chief who established our 
independence, we seek to restore the government of the Republic 
to the hands of " the plain people," with whose class it originated. 
We assert our purposes to be identical with the purposes of the na- 
tional Constitution, " to form a more perfect union and establish 
justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for 
ourselves and our posterity." We declare that this Republic can only 
endure as a free Government while built upon the love of the whole 
people for each other and for the nation; that it cannot be pinned 

354 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

together by bayonets; that the civil war is over, and that, every pas- 
sion and resentment which grew out of it must die with it; and that 
we must be' in fact, as we are in name, one united brotherhood of 
freemen. 

Our country finds itself confronted by conditions for which there 
is no precedent in the history of the world : our annual agricultural 
productions amount to billions of dollars in value, which must, 
within a few weeks or months, be exchanged for billions of dollars 
of commodities consumed in their production ; the existing currency 
supply is wholly inadequate to make this exchange ; the results are 
falling prices, the formation of combines and rings, the impoverish- 
ment of the producing class. We pledge ourselves, if given power, 
we will labor to correct these evils by wise and reasonable legisla- 
tion, in accordance with the terms of our platform. We believe that 
the powers of Government — in other words, of the people — should be 
expanded (as in the case of the postal service) as rapidly and as 
far as the good sense of an intelligent people and the teachings of 
experience shall justify, to the end that oppression, injustice, and 
poverty shall eventually cease in the land. 

While our sympathies as a party of reform are "naturally upon the 
side of every proposition which will tend to make men intelligent, 
virtuous, and temperate, we nevertheless regard these questions — 
important as they are — as secondary to the great issues now pressing 
for solution, and upon which not only our individual prosperity but 
the very existence of free institutions depends ; and we ask all men 
to first help us to determine whether we are to have a Republic 
to administer before we differ as to the conditions upon which it is 
to be administered; believing that the forces of reform this day 
organized will never cease to move forward until every wrong is 
remedied, and equal rights and equal privileges securely established 
for all the men and women of this country. 

We declare, therefore — 

First. That the union of the labor forces of the United States this 
day consummated shall be permanent and perpetual ; may its spirit 
enter all hearts for the salvation of the Republic and the uplifting 
of mankind ! 

Second. Wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar 
taken from industry without an equivalent is robbery. " If any will 
not work, neither shall he eat." The interests of rural and civic 
labor are the same; their enemies are identical. 

Third. We believe that the time has come when the railroad cor- 
porations will either own the people or the people must own the rail- 
roads ; and, should the Government enter upon the work of owning 
and managing all railroads, we should favor an amendment to the 
Constitution by which all persons engaged in the Government ser- 
vice shall be placed under a civil service regulation of the most rigid 
character, so as to prevent the increase of the power of the national 
administration by the use ■ of such additional Government em- 
ployes. 

We demand — 

First, A national currency, safe, sound, and flexible, issued by the 
General Government only, a full legal tender for all debts, public 
and private, and that, without the use of banking corporations, a 
just, equitable, and efficient means of distribution direct to the peo- 

355 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

pie, at a tax not to exceed two per cent, per annum, to be provided 
as set forth in the sub-treasury plan of the Farmers' Alliance, or a 
better system; also, by payments in discharge of its obligations for 
public improvements. 

(a) We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at 
the present legal ratio of sixteen to one. 

(b) We demand that the amount of circulating medium be speed- 
ily increased to not less than lifty dollars per capita. 

(c) We demand a graduated income tax. 

(d) We believe that the money of the country should be kept as 
much as possible in the hands of the people, and hence we demand 
that all State and national revenues shall be limited to the necessary 
expenses of the Government economically and honestly adminis- 
tered. 

(e) We demand that postal savings banks be established by the 
Government for the safe deposit of the earnings of the people and 
to facilitate exchange. 

Second, Transportation. Transportation being a means of ex- 
change and a public necessity, the Government should own and oper- 
ate the railroads in the interest of the people. 

(a) The telegraph and telephone, like the post-office system, 
being a necessity for the transmission of news, should be owned and 
operated by the Government in the interest of the people. 

Third, Land. The land, including all the natural sources of 
wealth, is the heritage of the people, and should not be monopolized 
for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be pro- 
hibited. All land now held by railroads and other corporations in 
excess of their actual needs, and all lands now owned by aliens, 
should be reclaimed by the Government and held for actual set- 
tlers only. 

The following supplemental report was made, not to be 
regarded, as a part of the party platform, but as expressive 
of the opinion of the party, as follows : 

Whereas, Other questions have been presented for our considera- 
tion, we hereby submit the following, not as a part of the platform 
of the People's party, but as resolutions expressive of the sentiment 
of this convention. 

i. Resolved, That we demand a free ballot and a fair count in all 
elections, and pledge ourselves to secure it to every legal voter with- 
out federal intervention, through the adoption by the States of the 
unperverted Australian or secret ballot system. 

2. Resolved, That the revenue derived from a graduated income 
tax should be applied to the reduction of the burden of taxation now 
resting upon the domestic industries of this country. 

3. Resolved, That we pledge our support to fair and liberal pen- 
sions to ex-Union soldiers and sailors. 

4. Resolved, That we condemn the fallacy of protecting American 
labor under the present system, which opens our ports to the pauper 
and criminal classes of the world, and crowds outour wage-earners; 
and we denounce the present ineffective laws against contract labor, 
and demand the further restriction of undesirable immigration. 

356 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

5. Resolved, That we cordially sympathize with the efforts of 
organized workingmen to shorten the hours of labor, and demand 
a rigid enforcement of the existing eight-hour law on Government 
work, and ask that a penalty clause be added to the said law. 

6. Resolved, That we regard the maintenance of a large stand- 
ing army of mercenaries, known as the Pinkerton system, as a 
menace to our liberties, and we demand its abolition; and we con- 
demn the recent invasion of the Territory of Wyoming by the hired 
assassins of plutocracy, assisted by Federal officials. 

7. Resolved, That we commend to the favorable consideration of 
the people and the reform press the legislative system known as the 
initiative and referendum. 

8. Resolved, That we favor a constitutional provision limiting the 
office of President and Vice-President to one term, and providing 
for the election of Senators of the United States by a direct vote of 
the people. , 

9. Resolved, That we oppose any subsidy or national aid to any 
private corporation for any purpose. 



The convention was a mass assembly, as Texas cast more 
votes than New York and nearly thrice the vote of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The Socialists' Labor Convention met at New York on 
the 28th of August, and nominated Simon Wing, of Massa- 
chusetts, for President and Charles H. Machett, of New 
York, for Vice-President, and adopted the following plat- 
form : 



Social Demands: I. Reduction of the hours of labor in propor- \c 
tion to the progress of production. 

2. The United States shall obtain possession of the railroads, 
canals, telegraphs, telephones, and all other means of public trans- 
portation and communication. 

3. The municipalities to obtain possession of the local railroads, 
ferries, water-works, gas-works, electric plants, and all industries 
requiring municipal franchises. 

4. The public lands to be declared inalienable. Revocation of all 
land grants to corporations or individuals, the conditions of which 
have not been complied with. 

5. Legal incorporation by the States of local trade unions which 
have no national organization. 

6. The United States to have the exclusive right to issue money. 

7. Congressional legislation providing for the scientific manage- 
ment of forests and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of the 
natural resources of the country. v 

8. Inventions to be free to all ; the inventors to be remunerated by 
the nation. 

9. Progressive income tax and tax on inheritances ; the smaller 
incomes to be exempt. 

357 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

10. School education of all children under fourteen years of age 
to be compulsory, gratuitous, and accessible to all by public assist- 
ance in meals, clothing, books, etc., where necessary. 

11. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, and sumptuary laws. 
Unabridged right of combination. 

12. Official statistics concerning the condition of labor. Prohi- 
bition of the employment of children of school age, and of the em- 
ployment of female labor in occupations detrimental to health or 
morality. Abolition of the convict labor contract system. 

13. All wages to be paid in lawful money of the United States. 
Equalization of women's wages with those of men where equal ser- 
vice is performed. 

14. Laws for the protection of life and limb in all occupations, and 
an efficient employers' liability law. 

Political Demands: 1. The people to have the right to propose 
laws and to vote upon all'measures of importance, according to the 
referendum principle. 

2. Abolition of the Presidency. Vice-Presidency, and Senate of the 
United States. An Executive Board to be established, whose mem- 
bers are to be elected, and may at any time be recalled, by the House 
of Representatives, as the only legislative body. The States and 
municipalities to adopt corresponding amendments to their consti- 
tutions and statutes. 

3. Municipal self-government. 

4. Direct vote and secret ballots in all elections. Universal and 
equal right of suffrage, without regard to color, creed, or sex. Elec- 
tion days to be legal holidays. The principle of minority represen- 
tation to be introduced. 

5. All public officers to be subject to recall by their respective con- 
stituencies. 

6. Uniform civil and criminal law throughout the United States. 
Administration of justice to be free of charge. Abolition of capital 
punishment. 

The battle between Cleveland and Harrison was very 
earnestly contested, and it will be remembered as the only 
instance in which the party of power was defeated when 
the country was prosperous. The McKinley Tariff bill had 
largely increased protection to our manufactures, but without 
materially increasing wages. The result was an unusual 
number of labor strikes, the most notable of which was that 
of Homestead at the Carnegie works, and the Republicans 
suffered very generally throughout the country by the loss 
of industrial votes. 

The following table presents the popular and electoral 
vote of 1892 : ' 



y- 



kJuM^J 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



STATES. 



Alabama 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

- Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

(Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts.. . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

•New York 

•North Carolina.. 

North Dakota. . . 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania . . . 

Rhode Island . . . 

South Carolina.. 

South Dakota. . . 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia.. . 
'Wisconsin 

Wyoming 

Totals 





Popular Voti 






Electoral 
Vote. 


■0 


o 


CD 
> 






> 

CD 
C/2 




2 
"3 


u 

o 


u 

ni 

a c 

oj a 

o 
ffl 


<p o 
i— » 


^'.aS 

so 

o 
*— > 


w 

.go 

!> rt 
^ en 

« °* 

Ej 


13 
aj 

CI 
CD O 

a 

O 

11 


a 
a 

a 
o 
to 

'u 
u 
flj 

w 


a 

u 

4) 

> 

Bj 
CD 


138,138 


9,197 


85,181 


239 






87,834 


46,884 


11,831 


113 





8 


— 





117,908 


117,618 


25,226 


8,056 





8 


1 


— 




38,620 


53,584 


1,638 





— 


— 


4 




82,395 


77,025 


806 


4,025 


329 


6 


— 


— 


18,581 


18,083 


13 


565 





3 


— 


— 


30,143 




4,843 


475 





4 


— 








129,361 


48,305 


42,937 


988 





13 


— 


— 




8,599 


10,520 


288 


■ 


— 


— 


3 




426,281 


399,288 


22,207 


25,870 





24 


— 


— " 


262,740 


255,615 


22,208 


13,050 


■ 


15 


— 


— 


196,367 


219,795 


20,595 


6,402 





— 


13 


— 




157,237 


163,111 


4,539 





— 


— 


10 




175,461 


135,441 


23,500 


6,442 





13 


— 


— 


87,922 


13,281 


13,282 








8 


— 


— 


48,044 


62,931 


2,381 


3,062 


336 


— 


6 


— 


113,866 


92,736 


796 


5,877 


27 


8 


— 


— ■ 


176,813 


202,814 


3,210 


1,539 


649 


— 


15 


— 


202,296 


V 222,708 


19,892 


14,069 





5 


9 


— 


100,920 


.122,823 


29,313 


12,182 





— 


9 


— 


40,237 


^ 1,406 


10,256 


910 


■ 


9 


— 


— 


268,398 


226,918 


41,213 


4,331 





17 


— 


— 


17,581 


18,851 


7,334 


549 





— 


3 


— 


24,943 


87,227 


83,134 


4,902 





— 


8 


— 


714 


2,811 


7,264 


89 





— 


— 


3 


42,081 


45,658 


292 


1,297 





— 


4 


— 


171,042 


156,068 


969 


8,131 


1,337 


10 


— 


— 


654,868 


609,350 


16,429 


38,190 


17,956 


36 


— 


— 


132,951 


100,342 


44,736 


2,636 





11 


— 


— 


__ 


17,519 


•> 17,700 


899 





1 


1 


1 


404,115 


405,187 


14,850 


26,012 





1 


22 


— 


14,243 


35,002 


26,965 


2,281 





• — 


3 


1 


452,264 


516,011 


8,714 


25.123 


898 


— 


32 


— 


24,335 


26,972 


228 


1,654 





— 


4 


— 


54,692 


13,345 


2,407 








9 


— 


— 


9,081 


34,888 


26,544 








— 


4 


— 


138,874 


100,331 


23,447 


4,851 





12 


— 


— 


239,148 


81,444 


99,688 


2,165 





15 


— 


— 


16,325 


37,992 


43 


1,415 





— 


4 


— 


163,977 


113,262 


12,275 


2,738 





12 


— 


— 


29,802 


' 36,460 


19,165 


2,542 


■ 


— 


4 


— 


84,467 


80,293 


4,166 


2,145 





6 


— 


— 


177,335 


170,791 


9,909 


13,132 





12 


— 


— 




8,454 


7,722 


530 





277 


3 
145 








5,556,543 


5,175,582 


1,040,886 


255,841 


21,532 


22 



One of the notable features of the foregoing table is in 
the fact that both Republicans and Democrats fused with 



359 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

the Weaver or People's party in different States. Xo votes 
were cast for Cleveland in Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota, 
and "Wyoming, and none were cast for Harrison in Florida, 
and only a nominal vote given him in Alabama and Missis- 
sippi. The general political disturbance of the country may 
be understood when it is remembered that Weaver received 
near a million votes for President, while the Prohibition 
candidate kept the vote of that party up to its highest point. 
Cleveland and Jackson are the only Presidential candi- 
dates in the history of the Republic who made three con- 
secutive contests for the place, carried a popular plurality or 
majority each time, and increased it at each successive 
contest, and both were defeated in one battle, although 
receiving a larger popular vote than the successful com- 
petitor. 




WILLIAM MCKINLEY 



THE McKINLEY-BRYAN CONTEST 

1896 

Cleveland and Harrison were cast in the same mould of 
statesmanship, differing only in degree, and they had some 
important qualities in common. Both stood for a better 
political system than was acceptable to their respective 
parties, and both regarded public duty as paramount to 
political or individual interests. They are the only two men 
of the nation each of whom retired from the Presidency 
defeated by the other. Both were vastly in advance of the 
dominant sentiment of their followers in the support of civil 
service reform. Neither of them was accomplished as a 
national politician. They never could have nominated them- 
selves for President by political manipulation, nor could they 
have mastered the intricacies inevitable in the management 
of a great national contest. They employed none of the arts 
which have been common among public men to popularize 
themselves, and both were called to the leadership of their 
respective parties in Presidential battles because they were 
wanted rather than because they wanted the place. Both 
were regarded as unsympathetic by the ardent political 
leaders of their parties when it came to the distribution of 
administration patronage, and yet no two Presidents were 
ever more pronounced in their devotion to their party faith. 

Cleveland was a Democrat all through from hat to boots ; 
Harrison was equally positive as a Republican, and both held 
to the better teachings of their parties in the better days. 
Cleveland was a Jackson Democrat, Harrison a Lincoln 
Republican, and neither took to the modern political frills 
which sacrifice the substance of conviction to glittering 
shadows to protect political degeneracy. Cleveland was the 
more positive in purpose and bolder in action ; Harrison was 
probably the stronger intellectual force, with greater aptness 
in adaptability to political movements, and both were thor- 

361 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

oughly honest, tireless in devotion to duty, and sincerely 
patriotic. Both were exemplars of public and private purity, 
alike in home and trust, and the prattle of " Baby McKee" 
and of " Little Ruth " would at any time call either to forget- 
fulness of the honors and cares of State. Both finally retired 
from the Presidency, leaving records as Chief Magistrates 
which will ever shed rich lustre upon the annals of the Re- 
public. 

Cleveland's second administration fell upon troublous 
times. The country was about to enter upon a severe season 
of industrial and business depression, that no political power 
nor the wisest legislation could have prevented. The prod- 
ucts of our farms had reached the minimum of value. Debts 
were steadily increasing, labor was largely unemployed, and 
consumption of the necessaries of life was reduced to the low- 
est standard. The McKinley tariff of 1890 had given ex- 
cessive protection to our industries, but that only stimulated 
production while it narrowed the markets for our products, 
and it was not surprising when silver reached the point that 
made a dollar worth only 50 cents, that the free silver theory 
should attract the hopeless debtor class by the promise of pay- 
ing their obligations practically with one-half the money they 
had borrowed. 

Both parties were severely honeycombed with the cheap- 
money theory, and although Cleveland had a Democratic 
Congress and was able, after the most exhaustive effort, to 
halt the continued purchase of silver for coinage, it was the 
last and onlv achievement he attained with the aid of Con- 
gress to better our financial system. It was most fortunate 
for the country that in this fearful peril to our national credit 
Grover Cleveland was President of the United States. He 
stood impregnable as the rock of Gibraltar when the fierce 
waves of repudiation surged against him from both parties, 
and when the West and South appeared to be practically 
unanimous in demanding cheap money, while even the more 
stable business and financial States of the Xorth were greatly 
divided on the issue. Just as the peril to our national honor 
increased Cleveland's determination and courage to maintain 
the right increased with it, and he finally braved a howling 
repudiation Congress by a demand for gold bonds to sustain 
Government credit with notice that, if refused by Congress, 
whereby a loss of many millions would be forced upon the 
country, he would sell bonds, as then authorized by law, to 

362 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

any extent necessary to maintain the most scrupulous faith 
of the nation. 

Congress refused and Cleveland stood grandly alone with 
Congress against him, and saved the Republic from a stain of 
dishonor that would have been ineffaceable. This was a vastly 
more heroic act than Jackson's throttling of nullification, as 
Jackson was sustained by the patriotic devotion to the Union. 
Another record of his administration that stands out among 
the heroic of Presidential actions was his promptness and 
courage in meeting the Chicago riots when the commerce of 
the nation was interrupted by lawlessness. In a single order 
issued by Cleveland directing public peace to be maintained 
and commerce permitted to go on uninterrupted by the strong 
arm of national power he effaced forever the last lingering 
dregs of States' rights that would make a great Common- 
wealth the prey of the lawless with the National Government 
powerless to interfere. The Governor of Illinois was in 
hearty and open sympathy with the lawless, and refused the 
protection to public peace and to commerce that was his 
sworn duty to give, and the civil authorities of Chicago were 
the mere plaything of the mob. 

These two acts of Grover Cleveland will go into history as 
among the most heroic and self-sacrificing acts of any of our 
long line of Presidents! Harrison would doubtless have met 
both of these emergencies as Cleveland did, but Cleveland 
had to brave the overwhelming prejudices of his own party 
to discharge the duty, while Harrison would have been 
heartily and unitedly sustained by his party in meeting the 
Chicago issue, and would have had the majority of his party 
followers in sympathy with him in maintaining the national 
credit. Cleveland retired from his second term of the Presi- 
dency with his party very generally alienated from him, and 
yet he had not in any material degree departed from the 
Democratic platform on which he was re-elected. He was 
not in any measure an apostate, but he stood resolutely where 
his party had planted him, while his party apostatized and 
became his bitterest foe. 

No administration can command the support of the coun- 
try when industry and trade are severely depressed. It mat- 
ters not what may be the true cause of financial, commercial, 
and industrial revulsion ; it is always charged to the policy of 
the party in power, and Cleveland could not escape political 
disaster because of conditions which he had no more part 

363 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

in producing than he had in creating the stars when they first 
sang together. The mid-administration elections of 1894 
resulted in the most disastrous defeat the Democracy had 
ever suffered, and the cheap-money heresy rapidly grew in 
strength, disintegrating both the old parties until the ques- 
tion of maintaining national credit became one of the gravest 
ever presented to the people, with the single exception of the 
secession that caused our civil war. 

The Wilson Tariff bill was passed with protective features 
sufficiently liberal to maintain our industries with the en- 
larged markets it would have produced for American prod- 
ucts, but it was assailed as one of the chief causes of our 
industrial depression, and it became an important factor in 
the election of McKinley in 1896. It is now demonstrated 
before the close of the McKinley administration, that the pro- 
tective features of the Wilson bill were more than equal to 
the necessities of the present. New and unexpected condi- 
tions brought this country suddenly to a policy of expansion 
in territory and trade, and to-day we have hardly an indus- 
try that really needs protection if it can have free markets 
for its products. 

Cleveland was bitterly assailed as unfriendly to a liberal 
pension policy for our soldiers. He came into his second 
term in the midst of a tidal wave of pension profligacy. 
Private pensions were passed by the hundreds in Congress 
usually without debate, and often with only a small frac- 
tion of a quorum present. Cleveland vetoed a number of 
these bills, and I cannot recall one vetoed private pension 
bill that was passed over his veto, although there may have 
been a very few. 

I happened to witness a painful exhibition of the coward- 
ice of Congressmen in meeting the pension question after 
Cleveland had vetoed a bill greatly enlarging our pension 
system. On the morning of the day that the veto was to be 
taken in the House to sustain the veto or pass the bill, not- 
withstanding the objections of the President, I called upon 
Speaker Carlisle in his room in the Capitol, and there found 
him in earnest consultation with twelve or fifteen leading 
Democratic Congressmen. There was grave danger that the 
bill would pass over the veto, although certainly not one-third 
of the members of the House believed that the bill was just. 
The question discussed at that conference was who of the 
Democratic leaders could afford to take the floor in defence 

364 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

of the veto. All heartily approved of it, but only two of all 
those present expressed his willingness to come to the front 
and stand for the right. Governor Curtin, then a member of 
the House, had the courage to say that as the friend of the 
true soldier he would defend the veto on the floor, and while 
every one present agreed with him, a majority of them de- 
clared that it was a necessity, for their own safety at home, 
to vote for the bill. It was only by the greatest effort that 
the veto was sustained for want of a two-thirds vote, 
although a decided majority of the House voted for the bill. 

Such were the conditions in which the people entered 
upon the memorable contest of 1896. Governor McKinley 
and Speaker Reed took the lead early in the race for the 
Republican nomination for President, and McKinley was 
most fortunate in having his Warwick in Mark A. Hanna, 
of Ohio, who conducted the McKinley battle on the same 
lines that Samuel J. Tilden conducted the contest for his 
nomination in 1876. His fight was won by well-organized 
and earnestly directed contests in every debatable State, and 
for a year or more before the convention met Hanna was 
tireless in his work. He had a strong candidate in McKin- 
ley; a man of blameless character, of admitted ability, a 
champion of protection, a soldier who had carried his musket 
as a private in the flame of battle, and possessing many 
attributes of personal popularity. Reed in his rough way 
fought his battle more heroically than wisely, and was finally 
unhorsed at the close of the contest by McKinley sweeping 
some of the New England States from him. That defeated 
Reed, and McKinley's nomination was assured. 

On only one point did Hanna seriously miscalculate the 
lines of safety. He saw the cheap-money and repudiation 
issue formidable on every side and in both parties, and he 
decided that McKinley should be nominated for President on 
a platform that straddled the money issue in a cowardly way. 
In order to give the cue to the party on the money issue, he 
called the Republican State Convention of Ohio to meet 
on the nth of March, 1896, and that convention adopted 
the following money plank, intended to be the McKinley 
platform : 

" We contend for honest money ; for a currency of gold, silver, 
and paper with which to measure our exchanges, that shall be as 
sound as the Government and as untarnished as its honor, and to 
that end we favor bimetallism, and demand the use of both gold and 

365 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

silver as standard money, either in accordance with a ratio to be 
fixed by an international agreement, if that can be obtained, or under 
such restrictions and such provisions, to be determined by legisla- 
tion, as will secure the maintenance of the parities of value of the 
two metals so that the purchasing and debt-paying power of the dol- 
lar, whether of silver, gold, or paper, shall be at all times equal." 

The Ohio money plank was generally accepted by the 
Republicans of the West as a cunning straddle, that would 
hold the cheap-money Republicans, whose devotion to pro- 
tection made them willing to yield something on the money 
question, but it was severely criticised by a number of the 
ablest Republicans of the East, and before the convention 
met it became evident that the friends of an emphatic honest- 
money plank were likely to dominate the body. 

The Republican National Convention met at St. Louis 
on the 1 6th of June. There was little or no dispute as to 
who would be nominated for President, as a decided majority 
of the delegates came there for the purpose of nominating 
McKinley. Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, was tem- 
porary chairman and present Senator John M. Thurston, of 
Nebraska, permanent president. The struggle over the 
money plank of the platform kept the convention in idleness 
until the third day, when an agreement was reached in favor 
of the gold standard. There has been some dispute recently 
as to who made Hanna adopt the gold platform. There were 
many and very earnest consultations in St. Louis before an 
agreement with Hanna could be reached, and it was finally 
accomplished by a number of able members of the body 
deciding that they would notify Hanna, giving him one hour 
to accept the gold-standard platform, or they would carry it 
into the convention and compel McKinley's friends to meet 
the issue in open debate. I was at the same hotel, on the 
same floor with Hanna, and knew just when that proposition 
was sent to him, and knew also that in little over half an 
hour he agreed to the demand of the gold-standard Repub- 
licans, and it was then adopted without a contest. When 
the platform was reported, Senator Teller, of Colorado, who 
led the Silver Republicans, and who was a member of the 
committee on resolutions, offered the following as a substi- 
tute for the money plank of the platform : 

" The Republican party favors the use of both gold and silver as 
equal standard money, and pledges its power to secure the free, un- 
restricted, and independent coinage of gold and silver at our mints 
at the ratio of 16 parts of silver to I of gold." 

366 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Senator Teller delivered an earnest and able argument 
in support of his substitute, but it was rejected by 8i8J votes 
to 105J. A separate vote was also had on the financial plank 
as reported by the majority, and it was adopted by 812J to 
110J. When the platform was adopted, Senator Cannon, of 
Utah, presented a protest against the money plank of the 
platform, after which thirty-four delegates from the Western 
States, including Senators Teller and Cannon, withdrew 
from the convention. There was only one ballot for Presi- 
dent, as follows : 



William McKinley, Ohio . 661^ 

Thomas B. Reed, Me .... 84j| 

Matthew S. Quay, Pa... . 61 j| 

Levi P. Morton, N. Y. . . . 58 



William B. Allison, la . . 35^ 
J. Donald Cameron, Pa. . 1 
Blank 4 



The nomination of Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey, for 
Vice-President was made on the 1st ballot by the following 
vote : 



Garret A. Hobart, N. J. . . 535^ 
Henry Clay Evans, Tenn. 277^ 
Morgan J. Bulkeley, Conn. 39 

James A. Walker, "Va 24 

Charles E. Lippitt, R. I. . 8 



Thomas B. Reed, Maine 3 

Chauncey M. Depew, N. Y. . . 3 

John M. Thurston, Neb 2 

Fred D. Grant, N. Y 2 

Levi P. Morton, N. Y 1 



The nominations of McKinley and Hobart were made 
unanimous with the wildest enthusiasm. The following is 
the Republican platform as adopted by the convention : 

The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their repre- 
sentatives in national convention, appealing for the popular and his- 
torical justification of their claims to the matchless achievements of 
the thirty years of Republican rule, earnestly and confidently address 
themselves to the awakened intelligence, experience, and conscience 
of their countrymen in the following declaration of facts and prin- 
ciples : 

For the first time since the Civil War the American people have 
witnessed the calamitous consequences of full and unrestricted 
Democratic control of the Government. It has been a record of 
unparalleled incapacity, dishonor, and disaster. In administrative 
management it has ruthlessly sacrificed indispensable revenue, en- 
tailed an unceasing deficit, eked out ordinary current expenses with 
borrowed money, piled up the public debt by $262,000,000 in time of 
peace, forced an adverse balance of trade, kept a perpetual menace 
hanging over the redemption fund, pawned American credit to alien 
syndicates, and reversed all the measures and results of successful 
Republican rule. 

In the broad effect of its policy it has precipitated panic, blighted 

367 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

industry and trade with prolonged depression, closed factories, 
reduced work and wages, halted enterprise, and crippled American 
production while stimulating foreign production for the American 
market. Every consideration of public safety and individual inter- 
est demands that the Government shall be rescued from the hands 
of those who have shown themselves incapable of conducting it 
without disaster at home and dishonor abroad, and shall be restored 
to the party which for thirty years administered it with unequalled 
success and prosperity, and in this connection we heartily endorse 
the wisdom, the patriotism, and the success of the administration of 
President Harrison. 

We renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of protection 
as the bulwark of American industrial independence and the foun- 
dation of American development and prosperity. This true Ameri- 
can policy taxes foreign products and encourages home industry; 
it puts the burden of revenue on foreign goods ; it secures the Ameri- 
can market for the American producer ; it upholds the American 
standard of wages for the American workingman; it puts the fac- 
tory by the side of the farm, and makes the American farmer less 
dependent on foreign demand and price ; it diffuses general thrift, 
and founds the strength of all on the strength of each. In its rea- 
sonable application it is just, fair, and impartial, equally opposed 
to foreign control and domestic monopoly, to sectional discrimina- 
tion and individual favoritism. 

We denounce the present Democratic tariff as sectional, injurious 
to the public credit, and destructive to business enterprise. We 
demand such an equitable tariff on foreign imports which come into 
competition with American products as will not only furnish ade- 
quate revenue for the necessary expenses of the Government, but 
will protect American labor from degradation to the wage level of 
other lands. We are not pledged to any particular schedules. The 
question of rates is a practical question, to be governed by the con- 
ditions of the time and of production; the ruling and uncompromis- 
ing principle is the protection and development of American labor 
and industry. The country demands a right settlement, and then it 
wants rest. 

We believe the repeal of the reciprocity arrangements negotiated 
by the last Republican administration was a national calamity, and 
we demand their renewal and extension on such terms as will equal- 
ize our trade with other nations, remove the restrictions which now 
obstruct the sale of American products in the ports of other coun- 
tries, and secure enlarged markets for the products of our farms, 
forests, and factories. 

Protection and reciprocity are twin measures of Republican policy, 
and go hand in hand. Democratic rule has recklessly struck down 
both, and both must be re-established. Protection for what we pro- 
duce ; free admission for the necessaries of life which we do not 
produce; reciprocity agreements of mutual interests which gain open 
markets for us in return for our open market to others. Protection 
builds up domestic industry and trade, and secures our own market 
for ourselves: reciprocity builds up foreign trade and finds an out- 
let for our surplus. 

We condemn the present administration for not keeping faith with 
the sugar-producers of this country. The Republican party favors 

3 68 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

such protection as will lead to the production on American soil of 
all the sugar which the American people use, and for which they 
pay other countries more than $100,000,000 annually. 

To all our products — to those of the mine and the fields, as well 
as those of the shop and factory ; to hemp, to wool, the product of 
the great industry of sheep husbandry, as well as to the finished 
woollens of the mills — we promise the most ample protection. 

We favor restoring the early American policy of discriminating 
duties for the upbuilding of our merchant marine and the protection 
of our shipping in the foreign carrying trade, so that American 
ships — the product of American labor, employed in American ship- 
yards, sailing under the Stars and Stripes, and manned, officered, 
and owned by Americans — may regain the carrying of our foreign 
commerce. 

The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money. It caused 
the enactment of the law providing for the resumption of specie 
payments in 1879; since then every dollar has been as good as gold. 

We are unalterably opposed to every measure calculated to debase 
our currency or impair the credit of our country. We are, there- 
fore, opposed to the free coinage of silver, except by international 
agreement with the leading commercial nations of the world, which 
we pledge ourselves to promote, and until such agreement can be 
obtained the existing gold standard must be preserved. All our sil- 
ver and paper currency must be maintained at parity with gold, and 
we favor all measures designed to maintain inviolably the obliga- 
tions of the United States and all our money, whether coin or paper, 
at the present standard, the standard of the most enlightened nations 
of the earth. 

The veterans of the Union armies deserve and should receive fair 
treatment and generous recognition. Whenever practicable, they 
should be given the preference in the matter of employment, and 
they are entitled to the enactment of such laws as are best calculated 
to secure the fulfilment of the pledges made to them in the dark 
days of the country's peril. We denounce the practice in the Pen- 
sion Bureau, so recklessly and unjustly carried on by the present 
administration, of reducing pensions and arbitrarily dropping names 
from the rolls, as deserving the severest condemnation of the Ameri- 
can people. 

Our foreign policy should be at all times firm, vigorous, and digni- 
fied, and all our interests in the Western Hemisphere carefully 
watched and guarded. The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled 
by the United States, and no foreign power should be permitted to 
interfere with them ; the Nicaragua Canal should be built, owned, 
and operated by the United States ; and by the purchase of the Dan- 
ish islands we should secure a proper and much-needed naval station 
in the West Indies. 

The massacres in Armenia have aroused the deep sympathy and 
just indignation of the American people, and we believe that the 
United States should exercise all the influence it can properly exert 
to bring these atrocities to an end. In Turkey, American residents 
have been exposed to the gravest dangers and American property 
destroyed. There and everywhere American citizens and American 
property must be absolutely protected at all hazards and at any cost. 

We reassert the Monroe Doctrine in its full extent, and we re- 

369 



OUR PRESIDENT ; 

affirm the right of the United States to give the doctrine effect by 

responding to the appeal of any American State for friendly inter- 
vention in case of European encroachment We have not interfered 

and shall not interfere with the existing possessions of any Emro- 
pean power in this hemisphere, but those possessions must not on 
any pretext be extended. We hopefully look forward to the eventual 
withdrawal of the European powers from this hem:??:: ere 1:1 :•: 
the ultimate union of all English-speaking parts of the continent by 
the free consent of its inhabitar.-.: 

From the hour of achieving their own independence the ;•:-:; he 
of the United States have regarded with sympathy :he r:r;;r!ti :: 
other American people to free themselves from Zur:;t::; ::~::.l- 
tion. We watch with deep and abiding interest the her::: rirt't ::' 
the Cuban patriots against zruelty and oppress::- ir. i ::r :: : : 
hopes go out for the full success of their determined :::::;: £:: 
liberty. 

The Government of Spain, having lost control of Cuba, and being 
unable to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens, 
or to comply with its treaty obligations, we believe that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States should actively use its influence and 
good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island. 

The peace and security of the Republic and the maintenance of its 
rightful influence among the nations of the earth demand a naval 
power commensurate with its position and responsibility. We there- 
fore favor the continued enlargement of the navy and a complete 
system of harbor and seacoas: iefer:es 

For the protection of the quality of our American citizenship and 
of the wages of our workingmen against the fatal competiticr. :: 
low-priced labor, we demand that the immigration laws be thor- 
oughly enforced, and so extended as to exclude from entrance to the 
United States those who can neither read nor write 

The civil service law was placed on the statute book b} r the Re- 
publican party, which has always sustained ft and we renew onr 
repeated declarations that it shall be thoroughly and honest!;.- en- 
forced and extended wherever practicable. 

We demand that even- citizen of the United States shall be allowed 
to cast one free and unrestricted ballot and that such ballot shall 
be counted and returned as cast 

We proclaim our unqualified condemnation of the uncivilized and 
barbarous practice, well known as Ijmching, or killing of human 
beings suspected or charged with crime, without process of law. 

We favor the creation of a national Board of Arbitration to settle 
and adjust differences which may arise between employer: i::: 
employes engaged in interstate commerce. 

We believe in an immediate return to the free-homes :e : : ; 
of the Republican party 7 , and urge the passage by Congre: ; ::' i sat- 
isfactory free-homestead measure such as has already passed the 
House, and is now pending in the Senate, 

We favor the admission of the remainir.r _ erritrries at the earliest 
practicable date, having due regard to the interests of the people of 
the Territories and of the United States. All the Federal : Pre- 
appointed for the Territories should be selected from bona fid£ resi- 
dents thereof, and the right of self-government should be accorded 
as far as practicable. 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

We believe the citizens of Alaska should have representation in 
the Congress of the United States, to the end that needful legisla- 
tion may be intelligently enacted. 

We sympathise with all wise and legitimate efforts to lessen and 
prevent the evils of intemperance and promote morality. 

The Republican party is mindful of the rights and interests of 
women. Protection of American industries includes equal opportu- 
nities, equal pay for equal work, and protection to the home. We 
favor the admission of women to wider spheres of usefulness, and 
welcome their co-operation in rescuing the country from Democratic 
and Populist mismanagement and misrule. 

Such are the principles and policies of the Republican party. By 
these principles we will abide and these policies we will put into 
execution. We ask for them the considerate judgment of the 
American people. Confident alike in the history of our great party 
and in the justice of our cause, we present our platform and our 
candidates in the full assurance that the election will bring victory 
to the Republican party and prosperity to the people of the United 
States. 

The Democratic National Convention met. at Chicago on 
the 7th of July, and the emphatic deliverance of the Repub- 
lican convention in favor of the gold standard greatly- 
strengthened the free-silver Democratic element, but the 
sound-money Democrats had control of the national commit- 
tee, with William F. Harrity, chairman, whose duty it was 
to call the convention to order. Earnest efforts were made 
to harmonize the party in the organization, but the Free 
Silverites were aggressive from the start, and when the 
national committee named Senator Hill, of New York, as 
temporary chairman, a bitter debate was precipitated, and 
Senator Daniel, of Virginia, an out-and-out Free Silverite, 
was elected by 556 to 349. On the second day the report of 
the committee on credentials strengthened the free-silver 
wing by the admission of the Bryan delegation from Ne- 
braska, and four sound-money Democrats were rejected from 
Michigan, and their places given to free-silver delegates. 
Senator White, of California, was made permanent president. 
The platform was adopted, as is usual, before the nomination 
for President, and it was in the protracted and intensely 
bitter debate of the money question that brought out the 
eloquent and dramatic address of William J. Bryan, that 
carried him into the Democratic nomination with a tidal 
wave. 

A sound financial plank was offered by the minority, but 
rejected by 626 to 303. Another resolution, declaring, " We 
commend the honesty, economy, courage, and fidelity of the 

371 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

present Democratic (Cleveland) administration," was greeted 
with a yell of derision and rejected by 564 to 357. Senator 
Hill offered two amendments to temper the repudiation 
plank, but they were rejected without a division. The 
platform was then adopted by 628 to 301. The sound-money 
Democrats found themselves in a helpless and hopeless 
minority. Many of them desired to withdraw from the 
convention, but the more considerate refused to do so, and 
all of them remained, 178 of them refusing to vote on the 
1st ballot for President. Chairman Harrity, of the national 
committee, with his delegation participated in all the ballots 
and steadily voted for ex-Governor Pattison. Five ballots 
were had for President, with Bryan starting at 119 to 235 
for Bland, of Missouri, who was the father of the silver 
dollar, and should have been accepted as the logical candidate 
of the free-silver party, but Bryan's " crown of thorns" had 
captured the convention, and he won an easy victory. The 
following table gives the five ballots for President in detail : 



-~ 



Whole number of votes 

Necessary for a choice (two-thirds) 

William J. Bryan, Nebraska 

Richard P. Bland, Missouri 

Robert E. Pattison, Pennsylvania 

Horace Boies. Iowa 

Joseph S. C. Blackburn, Kentucky 

John R. McLean, Ohio 

Claude Matthews, Indiana 

Benjamin R. Tillman, South Carolina . . 

Sylvester Pennoyer, Oregon 

Henry M. Teller, Colorado 

Adlai E. Stevenson, Illinois 

William E. Russell, Massachusetts 

James E. Campbell, Ohio 

David B. Hill, New York 

David Turpie, Indiana 

Not voting .-. 



752 

502 

119 

235 

95 

85 

83 

54 

37 

17 



7 
2 
1 
1 

178 



512 

190 

283 

100 

41 

41 

53 

33 



10 

1 
162 



768 

512 

219 

291 

97 

36 

27 

54 

34 



' 1 
162 



513 
280 
241 
97 
33 
27 
46 
36 



1 

162 



768 
512 
500 
106 
95 
26 



31 



1 
1 

162 



On the 5th ballot Bryan was only 12 votes short of the 
necessary two-thirds, and immediately after the roll-call was 
completed, and before the vote had been given, 78 delegates 
changed their votes from other candidates to Bryan, giving 
him the nomination. The convention received the result 
with the wildest cheers for Bryan, mingled with some hisses 
and general sullen silence among the sound-money Demo- 
crats. 



372 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

There was a spirited contest for the Vice-Presidency, in 
which John R. McLean, of Ohio, was well to the front, and 
led all others on the 4th ballot, but on the 5th a whirl was 
made to Sewall, of Maine, giving him the nomination. The 
following table gives the ballot in detail : 



Whole number of votes 

Necessary for a choice (two-thirds). 

Arthur Sewall, Maine 

Joseph C. Sibley, Pennsylvania 

John R. McLean, Ohio 

George F. Williams, Massachusetts 

Richard P. Bland, Missouri 

Walter A. Clark, North Carolina... 

John R. Williams, Illinois 

William F. Harrity, Pennsylvania.. 

Horace Boies, Iowa 

Joseph S. C Blackburn, Kentucky . 

John W. Daniel, Virginia 

James H. Lewis, Washington 

Robert E. Pattison, Pennsylvania... 

Henry M. Teller, Colorado 

Stephen M. White, California 

George W. Fithian, Illinois 

Not voting 





•a 




A 


in 

u 


a 



0) 


u 





670 


02 
675 


e 


fc 


675 


677 


447 


450 


450 


452 


100 


37 


97 


261 


163 


113 


50 


— 


111 


158 


210 


296 


76 


16 


15 


9 


62 


294 


255 


— 


50 


22 


22 


46 


22 


13 


— 


— 


21 


21 


19 


11 


20 


— 


— 


— 


20 


— . 


— 


— 


11 
11 

1 

1 

1 

260 


1 


6 


54 


1 


1 


1 


255 


255 


253 



679 
453 
568 

32 
9 

22 

11 

36 

1 



251 



The following is the full text of the Democratic platform : 

We, the Democrats of the United States, in national convention 
assembled, do reaffirm our allegiance to those great essential prin- 
ciples of justice and liberty, upon which our institutions are founded, 
and which the Democratic party has advocated from Jefferson's 
time to our own — freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free- 
dom of conscience, the preservation of personal rights, the equality 
of all citizens before the law, and the faithful observance of constitu- 
tional limitations. 

During all these' years the Democratic party has resisted the ten- 
dency of selfish interests to the centralization of governmental power, 
and steadfastly maintained the integrity of the dual scheme of gov- 
ernment established by the founders of this republic of republics. 
Under its guidance and teachings, the great principle of local self- 
government has found its best expression in the maintenance of the 
rights of the States, and in its assertion of the necessity of confin- 
ing the General Government to the exercise of the powers granted by 
"the Constitution of the United States. 

The Constitution of the United States guarantees to every citizen 
the rights of civil and religious liberty. The Democratic party has 
always been the exponent of political liberty and religious freedom, 
and it renews its obligations and reaffirms its devotion to these 
fundamental principles of the Constitution. 



373 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Recognizing that the money question is paramount to all others 
at this time, we invite attention to the fact that the Federal Con- 
stitution names silver and gold together as the money metals of 
the United States, and that the first coinage law passed by Congress 
under the Constitution made the silver dollar the money unit, and 
admitted gold to free coinage at a ratio based upon the silver dollar 
unit. 

We declare that the act of 1873 demonetizing silver without the 
knowledge or approval of the American people has resulted in the 
appreciation of gold and a corresponding fall in the prices of com- 
modities produced by the people ; a heavy increase in the burden 
of taxation and of all debts, public and private ; the enrichment of 
the money-lending class at home and abroad ; the prostration of in- 
dustry and impoverishment of the people. 

We are unalterably opposed to monometallism, which has locked 
fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paralysis of hard 
times. Gold monometallism is a British policy, and its adoption 
has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. It is 
not only un-American, but anti-American, and it can be fastened 
on the United States only by the stifling of that spirit and love of- 
liberty which proclaimed our political independence in 1776 and won 
it in the war of the Revolution. 

We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and 
gold at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one without waiting' for 
the aid or consent of any other nation. We demand that the stan- 
dard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally with gold, for 
all debts, public and private, and we favor such legislation as will 
prevent for the future the demonetization of any kind of legal tender 
money by private contract. 

We are opposed to the policy and practice of surrendering to the 
holders of the obligations of the United States the option reserved 
by law to the Government of redeeming such obligations in either sil- 
ver coin or gold coin. 

We are opposed to the issuing of interest-bearing bonds of the 
United States in time of peace, and condemn the trafficking with 
banking syndicates, which, in exchange for bonds and at enormous 
profit to themselves, supply the Federal Treasury with gold to main- 
tain the policy of gold monometallism. 

Congress alone has the power to coin and issue money, and 
President Jackson declared that this power could not be delegated 
to corporations or individuals. We therefore denounce the issuance 
of notes intended to circulate as money by national banks as in 
derogation of the Constitution, and we demand that all paper which 
is made a legal tender for public and private debts, or which is 
receivable for duties to the United States, shall be issued by the 
Government of the United States and shall be redeemable in coin. 

We hold that tariff duties should be levied for purposes of reve- 
nue, such duties to be so adjusted as to operate equally through- 
out the country, and not discriminate between class or section, and 
that taxation should be limited by the needs of the Government 
honestly and economically administered. 

We denounce as disturbing to business the Republican threat to 
restore the McKinley law, which has twice been condemned by the 
people in national elections, and which, enacted under the false plea 

374 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

of protection to home industry, proved a prolific breeder of trusts 
and monopolies, enriched the few at the expense of the many, re- 
stricted trade, and deprived the producers of the great American 
staples of access to their natural markets. 

Until the money question is settled we are opposed to any agita- 
tion for further changes in our tariff laws, except such as are 
necessary to meet the deficit in revenue caused by the adverse de- 
cision of the Supreme Court on the income tax. But for this de- 
cision by the Supreme Court, there would be no deficit in the reve- 
nue under the law passed by a Democratic Congress in strict pursu- 
ance of the uniform decisions of that court for nearly one hundred 
years, that court having in that decision sustained constitutional ob- 
jections to its enactment which had previously been overruled by 
the ablest judges who have ever sat on that bench. We declare 
that it is the duty of Congress to use all the constitutional power 
which remains after that decision, or which may come from its re- 
versal by the court as it may hereafter be constituted, so that the 
burdens of taxation may be equally and impartially laid, to the 
end that wealth may bear its due proportion of the expenses of the 
Government. 

We hold that the most efficient way of protecting American labor 
is to prevent the importation of foreign pauper labor to compete 
with it in the home market, and that the value of the home market to 
our American farmers and artisans is greatly reduced by a vicious 
monetary system which depresses the prices of their products below 
the cost of production, and thus deprives them of the means of pur- 
chasing the products of our home manufactories ; and, as labor 
creates the wealth of the country, we demand the passage of such 
laws as may be necessary to protect it in all its rights. 

We are in favor of the arbitration of differences between em- 
ployers engaged in interstate commerce and their employes, and 
recommend such legislation as is necessary to carry out this prin- 
ciple. 

The absorption of wealth by the few, the consolidation of our 
leading railroad systems, and the formation of trusts and pools re- 
quire a stricter control by the Federal Government of those arteries 
of commerce. We demand the enlargement of the powers of the 
interstate commerce commission, and such restrictions and guar- 
antees in the control of railroads as will protect the people from 
robbery and oppression. 

We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from the 
people by oppressive taxation and the lavish appropriations of recent 
Republican Congresses, which have kept taxes high, while the labor 
that pays them is unemployed and the products of the people's toil 
are depressed in price till they no longer repay the cost of produc- 
tion. We demand a return to that simplicity and economy which 
befits a democratic government and a reduction in the number of 
useless offices, the salaries of which drain the substance of the 
people. 

We denounce arbitrary interference by Federal authorities in 
local affairs as a violation of the Constitution of the United States 
and a crime against free institutions, and we especially object to 
government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of 
oppression by which Federal judges, in contempt of the laws of the 

375 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

States and rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges, and 
executioners ; and we approve the bill passed at the last session 
of the United States Senate, and now pending in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, relative to contempts in Federal courts and providing 
for trials by jury in certain cases of contempt. 

No discrimination should be indulged in by the Government of 
the United States in favor of any of its debtors. We approve of 
the refusal of the Fifty-third Congress to pass the Pacific Railroad 
Funding bill, and denounce the effort of the present Republican Con^ 
gress to enact a similar measure. 

Recognizing the just claims of deserving Union soldiers, we 
heartily endorse the rule of the present Commissioner of Pensions, 
that no name shall be arbitrarily dropped from the pension roll ; 
and the fact of enlistment and service should be deemed conclusive 
evidence against disease and disability before enlistment. 

We favor the admission of the Territories of New Mexico, 
Arizona, and Oklahoma into the Union as States, and we favor 
the early admission of all the Territories having the necessary 
population and resources to entitle them to statehood, and, while 
they remain Territories, we hold that the officials appointed to ad- 
minister the government of any Territory, together with the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and Alaska, should be bond fide residents of the 
Territory or district in which the duties are to be performed. The 
Democratic party believes in home rule, and that all public lands 
of the United States should be appropriated to the establishment 
of free homes for American citizens. 

We recommend that the Territory of Alaska be granted a dele- 
gate in Congress, and that the general land and timber laws of 
the United States be extended to said Territory. 

The Monroe Doctrine, as originally declared and as interpreted 
by succeeding Presidents, is a permanent part of the foreign policy 
of the United States, and must at all times be maintained. 

We extend our sympathy to the people of Cuba in their heroic 
struggle for liberty and independence. 

We are opposed to life tenure in the public service, except as 
provided in the Constitution. We favor appointments based upon 
merit, fixed terms of office, and such an administration of the civil 
service laws as will afford equal opportunities to all citizens of ascer- 
tained fitness. 

We declare it to be the unwritten law of this Republic, estab- 
lished by custom and usage of a hundred years, and sanctioned by 
the examples of the greatest and wisest of those who founded and 
have maintained our Government, that no man should be eligible 
for a third term of the Presidential office. 

The Federal Government should care for and improve the Mis- 
sissippi River and other great waterways of the Republic, so as to 
secure for the interior States easy and cheap transportation to tide- 
water. When any waterway of the Republic is of sufficient impor- 
tance to demand aid of the Government, such aid should be ex- 
tended upon a definite plan of continuous work until permanent im- 
provement is secured. 

Confiding in the justice of our cause and the necessity of its 
success at the polls, we submit the foregoing declaration of prin- 
ciples and purposes to the considerate judgment of the American 

376 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

people. We invite the support of all citizens who approve them, 
and. who desire to have them made effective, through legislation, 
for the relief of the people and the restoration of the country's 
prosperity. 

A minority of the Committee on Resolutions, consisting 
of the members from sixteen States, submitted a dissenting 
report, expressing their inability to give their assent to 
" many declarations" of the platform. " Some are ill- 
considered and ambiguously phrased, while others are ex- 
treme and revolutionary of the well-recognized principles 
of the party." They offered two amendments, the first a 
substitute for the financial plank, as follows : 

We declare our belief that the experiment on the part of the 
United States alone of free silver coinage and a change in the 
existing standard of value, independently of the action of other 
great nations, would not only imperil our finances, but would 
retard, or entirely prevent, the establishment of international 
bimetallism, to which the efforts of the Government should be 
steadily directed. 

It would place this country at once upon a silver basis, impair 
contracts, disturb business, diminish the purchasing power of the 
wages of labor, and inflict irreparable evils upon our nation's com- 
merce and industry. 

Until international co-operation among leading nations for the 
coinage of silver can be secured, we favor the rigid maintenance 
of the existing gold standard as essential to the preservation of our 
national credit, the redemption of our public pledges, and the keep- 
ing inviolate of our country's honor. 

We insist that all our paper currency shall be kept at a parity 
with gold. The Democratic party is the party of hard money, and 
is opposed to legal tender paper money as a part of our permanent 
financial system, and we therefore favor the gradual retirement 
and cancellation of all United States notes and treasury notes, under 
such legislative provisions as will prevent undue contraction. 

We demand that the national credit shall be resolutely maintained 
at all times and under all circumstances. 

The People's party, then better known as the Populists, 
and the Free Silver party, held their conventions at St. Louis 
on the 22d of July. The cheap-money elements were divided 
into two extreme factions, with a third that was known as 
the " Middle-of-the-Road " men. The Populist convention 
was presided over by Senator Butler, of North Carolina, as 
temporary chairman, and Senator Allen, of Nebraska, as 
permanent president, and the question of acting with the 
Democratic party in support of the Chicago platform and 
candidate for President, was settled by the preliminary mo- 

377 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

tion to proceed to the nomination of a candidate for Vice- 
President. It was adopted by 785 to 615. That meant the 
nomination of Bryan, but the rejection of Sewall. A single 
ballot was had for Vice-President, resulting as follows : 



Thomas E. Watson, Ga. . . 539% 

Arthur Sewall, Maine 257j| 

Frank Burkett, Miss 190% 



Harry Skinner, N. C 142^ 

A. L. Mims, Tenn 118 T 5 g 

Mann Page, Virginia 89 " 



-TS" 



Watson lacked over 100 of the majority, but a sufficient 
number of delegates promptly changed their votes to make 
him the nominee. After nominating the candidate for Vice- 
President, the convention proceeded to ballot for President, 
as follows : 



William J. Bryan, Neb. . ..1,042 

S. F. Norton, 111 321 

Eugene B. Debs, Ind 8 



Ignatius Donnelly, Minn. ... 3 
J. S. Coxey, Ohio 1 



The following platform was adopted after three minority 
reports had been rejected : 

The People's party, assembled in national convention, reaffirms 
its allegiance to the principles declared by the founders of the Re- 
public, and also to the fundamental principles of just government 
as enunciated in the platform of the party in 1892. 

We recognize that through the connivance of the present and 
preceding administrations the country has reached a crisis in its 
national life as predicted in our declaration four years ago, and 
that prompt and patriotic action is the supreme duty of the hour. 
We realize that while we have political independence our financial 
and industrial independence is yet to be attained by restoring to 
our country the constitutional control and exercise of the functions 
necessary to a people's government, which functions have been 
basely surrendered by our public servants to corporate monopolies. 
The influence of European money-changers has been more potent 
in shaping legislation than the voice of the American people. 
Executive power and patronage have been used to corrupt our 
Legislatures and defeat the will of the people, and plutocracy has 
been enthroned upon the ruins 'of democracy. To restore the Gov- 
ernment intended by the fathers and for the welfare and prosperity 
of this and future generations, we demand the establishment of an 
economic and financial system which shall make us masters of our 
own affairs, and independent of European control, by the adoption of 
the following declaration of principles : 

1. We demand a national money, safe and sound, issued by the 
General Government only, without the intervention of banks of 
issue, to be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private; a 
just, equitable, and efficient means of distribution direct to the 
people and through the lawful disbursements of the Government. 

378 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

2. We demand the free and unrestricted coinage of silver and 
gold at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one, without waiting 
for the consent of foreign nations. 

3. We demand that the volume of circulating medium be 
speedily increased to an amount sufficient to meet the demands of 
business and population and to restore the just level of prices of 
labor and production. 

4. We denounce the sale of bonds and the increase of the interest- 
bearing debt made by the present administration as unnecessary and 
without authority of law, and demand that no more bonds be issued 
except by specific act of Congress. 

5. We demand such legislation as will prevent the demonetiza- 
tion of the lawful money of the United States by private contract. 

6. We demand that the Government, in payment of its obliga- 
tions, shall use its option as to the kind of lawful money in which 
they are to be paid, and we denounce the present and preceding 
administrations for surrendering this option to the holders of Gov- 
ernment obligations. 

7. We demand a graduated income tax, to the end that aggre- 
gated wealth shall bear its just proportion of taxation; and we 
regard the recent decision of the Supreme Court relative to the 
income tax law as a misinterpretation of the Constitution, and an 
invasion of the rightful powers of Congress over the subject of 
taxation. 

8. We demand that postal savings banks be established by the 
Government for the safe deposit of the savings of the people and 
to facilitate exchange. 

9. Transportation being a means of exchange and a public neces- 
sity, Government should own and operate the railroads in the in- 
terests of the people and on a non-partisan basis, to the end that 
all may be accorded the same treatment in transportation, and that 
the tyranny and political power now exercised by the great rail- 
road corporations, which result in the impairment, if not the de- 
struction, of the political rights and personal liberties of the citizen, 
may be destroyed. Such ownership is to be accomplished gradually, 
in a manner consistent with sound public policy. 

10. The interest of the United States in the public highways, built 
with public moneys, and the proceeds of extensive grants of land 
to the Pacific railroads should never be alienated, mortgaged, or 
sold, but guarded and protected for the general welfare as provided 
by the laws organizing such railroads. The foreclosure of existing 
liens of the United States on these roads should at once follow 
default in the payment thereof by the debtor-companies ; and at 
the foreclosure sales of said roads the Government shall purchase 
the same if it become necessary to protect its interests therein, or 
if they can be purchased at a reasonable price ; and the Government 
shall operate said railroads as public highways for the benefit of the 
whole people, and not in the interest of the few, under suitable 
provisions for protection of life and property, giving to all trans- 
portation interests equal privileges and equal rates for fares and 
freight. 

11. We denounce the present infamous schemes for refunding these 
debts, and demand that the laws now applicable thereto be executed 
and administered according to their true intent and spirit. 

379 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

12. The telegraph, like the post-office system, being a necessity for 
the transmission of news, should be owned and operated by the 
Government in the interest of the people. 

13. The true policy demands that national and State legislation 
shall be such as will ultimately enable even* prudent and industri- 
ous citizen to secure a home, and therefore the lands should not 
be monopolized for speculative purposes. All lands now held by 
railroads and other corporations in excess of their actual needs 
should b\- lawful means be reclaimed by the Government and held 
for actual settlers only, and subject to the right of even* human 
being to acquire a home upon the soil, and private land monopoly, 
as well as alien ownership, should be prohibited. 

14. We condemn the frauds by which the land grants to the Pa- 
cific Railroad companies have, through the connivance of the Interior 
Department, robbed multitudes of actual bona fide settlers of their 
homes and miners of their claims, and we demand legislation by 
Congress which will enforce the exemption of mineral land from 
such grants after as well as before the patent. 

15. We demand that bona fide settlers on all public lands be 
granted free homes as provided in the National Homestead law. and 
that no exception be made in the case of Indian reservations when 
opened for settlement, and that all lands not now patented come 
under this demand. 

We favor a system of direct legislation through the initiative' and 
referendum under proper constitutional safeguards. 

1. We demand the election of President, Vice-President, and 
United States Senators by a direct vote of the people. 

2. We tender to the patriotic people of Cuba our deepest sym- 
pathy' in their heroic struggle for political freedom and independ- 
ence, and we believe the time has come when the United States, the 
great Republic of the world should recognize that Cuba is and of 
right out to be a free and independent State. 

3. We favor home rule in the Territories and the District of 
Columbia, and the early admission of Territories as States. 

4. All public salaries should be made to correspond to the price 
of labor and its products. 

5. In times of great industrial depression, idle labor should be 
employed on public works as far as practicable. 

6. The arbitrary course of the courts in assuming to imprison 
citizens for indirect contempt, and ruling by injunction, should be 
prevented by proper legislation. 

7. We favor just pensions for our disabled Union soldiers. 

8. Believing that the elective franchise and an untrammelled ballot 
are essential to a government of. for, and b}* the people, the People's 
part\- condemn the wholesale system of disfranchisement adopted 
in some of the States as unrepublican and undemocratic, and we 
declare it to be the duty of the several State Legislatures to take 
such action as will secure a full, free, and fair ballot and an honest 
count. 

9. While the foregoing propositions constitute the platform upon 
which our party stands, and for the vindication of which its organ- 
ization will be maintained, we recognize that the great and pressing 
issue of the present campaign upon which the present Presidential 
election will turn is the financial question, and upon this great and 

380 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

specific issue between the parties we cordially invite the aid and 
co-operation of all organizations and citizens agreeing with us upon 
this vital question. 

The National Silver party held its convention at the same 
time and place, with Frank G. Newlands, of Nevada, as tem- 
porary chairman, and William P. St. John, of New York, as 
permanent president. No time during the proceedings of 
the convention was a vote had to indicate the number of dele- 
gates. William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was nominated for 
President, and Arthur Sewall, of Maine, for Vice-President, 
both by acclamation. The following platform was adopted : 

The National Silver party of America, in convention assembled, 
hereby adopts the following declaration of principles : 

First, the paramount issue at this time in the United States is 
indisputably the money question. It is between the British gold 
standard, gold bonds, and bank currency on the one side, and the 
bimetallic standard, no bonds, Government currency, and an Ameri- 
can policy on the other. 

On this issue we declare ourselves to be in favor of a distinctive 
American financial system. We are unalterably opposed to the single 
gold standard, and demand the immediate return to the constitu- 
tional standard of gold and silver, by the restoration by this Govern- 
ment, independently of any foreign power, of the unrestricted coin- 
age of both gold and silver into standard money, at the ratio of 
sixteen to one, and upon terms of exact equality, as they existed 
prior to 1873 ; the silver coin to be of full legal tender, equally with 
gold, for all debts and dues, public and private ; and we demand 
such legislation as will prevent for the future the destruction of the 
legal tender quality of any kind of money by private contract. 

We hold that the power to control and regulate a paper currency 
is inseparable from the power to coin money, and hence that all 
currency intended to circulate as money should be issued, and its 
volume controlled, by the General Government only, and should be 
a legal tender. 

We are unalterably opposed to the issue by the United States of 
interest-bearing bonds in time of peace, and we denounce as a blun- 
der worse than a crime the present treasury policy, concurred in by 
a Republican House of Representatives, of plunging the country 
into debt by hundreds of millions in the vain attempt to maintain 
the gold standard by borrowing gold ; and we demand the payment 
of all coin obligations of the United States as provided by existing 
laws, in either gold or silver coin, at the option of the Government, 
and not at the option of the creditor. 

The demonetization of silver in 1873 enormously increased the 
demand for gold, enhancing its purchasing power and lowering 
all prices measured by that standard; and, since that unjust and 
indefensible act, the prices of American products have fallen, upon 
an average, nearly fifty per cent., carrying down with them pro- 
portionately the money value of all other forms of property. 

381 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Such fall of prices has destroyed the profits of legitimate indus- 
try, injuring the producer for the benefit of the non-producer; in- 
creasing the burden of the debtor, swelling the gains of the creditor, 
paralyzing the productive energies of the American people, relegat- 
ing to idleness vast numbers of willing workers, sending the shad- 
ows of despair into the home of the honest toiler, filling the land 
with tramps and paupers, and building up colossal fortunes at the 
money centres. 

In the effort to maintain the gold standard, the country has, within 
the last two years, in a time of profound peace and plenty, been 
loaded down with $262,000,000 of additional interest-bearing debt 
under such circumstances as to allow a syndicate of native and for- 
eign bankers to realize a net profit of millions on a single deal. ' 

It stands confessed that the gold standard can be only upheld by 
so depleting our paper currency as to force the prices of our prod- 
ucts below the European, and even below the Asiatic, level to enable 
us to sell in foreign markets, thus aggravating the very evils of 
which our people so bitterly complain, degrading American labor and 
striking at the foundations of our civilization itself. 

The advocates of the gold standard persistently claim that the real 
cause of our distress is overproduction — that we have produced so 
much that it made us poor — which implies that the true remedy is 
to close the factory, abandon the farm, and throw a multitude of 
people out of employment — a doctrine that leaves us unnerved and 
disheartened, and absolutely without hope for the future. 

We affirm it to be unquestioned that there can be no such economic 
paradox as overproduction, and at the same time tens of thousands 
of our fellow-citizens remaining half clothed and half fed, and pit- 
eously clamoring for the common necessities of life. 

Over and above all other questions of policy, we are in favor of 
restoring to the people of the United States the time-honored money 
of the Constitution — gold and silver, not one, but both — the money 
of Washington and Hamilton and Jefferson and Monroe and Jack- 
son and Lincoln, to the end that the American people may receive 
honest pay for an honest product ; that the American debtor may pay 
his just obligations in an honest standard, and not in a dishonest and 
unsound standard, appreciated one hundred per cent, in purchasing 
power, and no appreciation in debt-paying power; and to the end, 
further, that silver standard countries may be deprived of the unjust 
advantage they now enjoy, in the difference in exchange between 
gold and silver, an advantage which tariff legislation cannot over- 
come. 

We, therefore, confidently appeal to the people of the United 
States to hold in abeyance all other questions, however important 
and even momentous they may appear, to sunder, if need be, all for- 
mer party ties and affiliations, and unite in one supreme effort to 
free themselves and their children from the domination of the money 
power — a power more destructive than any which has ever been 
fastened upon the civilized men of any race or in any age. And 
upon the consummation of our desires and efforts we invoke the 
aid of all patriotic American citizens, and the gracious favor of 
Divine Providence. 

The sound-money Democrats of the country called a 

382 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

national convention that met at Indianapolis on the 2d of 
September, and adopted the title of the National Democratic 
party. Governor Flower, of New York, was temporary 
chairman, and Senator Caflery, of Louisiana, was perma- 
nent president. General John M. Palmer, of Illinois, was 
nominated for President on the 1st ballot, receiving 769 \ 
votes to 118J votes for General Edward S. Bragg, of Wis- 
consin. General Simon B. Buckner, of Kentucky, was nomi- 
nated for Vice-President by acclamation. The following 
platform was unanimously adopted : 

This convention has assembled to uphold the principles on which 
depend the honor and welfare of the American people, in order that 
Democrats throughout the Union may unite their patriotic efforts 
to avert disaster from their country and ruin from their party. 

The Democratic party is pledged to equal and exact justice to all 
men, of every creed and condition ; to the largest freedom of the 
individual consistent with good government; to the preservation of 
the Federal Government in its constitutional vigor, and to the sup- 
port of the States in all their just rights; to economy in the public 
expenditures ; to the maintenance of the public faith and sound 
money; and it is opposed to paternalism and all class legislation. 

The declarations of the Chicago convention attack individual 
freedom, the right of private contract, the independence of the judi- 
ciary, and the authority of the President to enforce Federal laws. 
They advocate a reckless attempt to increase the price of silver by 
legislation, to the debasement of our monetary standard, and threaten 
unlimited issues of paper money by the Government. They abandon 
for Republican allies the Democratic cause of tariff reform, to court 
the favor of protectionists to their fiscal heresy. 

In view of these and other grave departures from Democratic prin- 
ciples, we cannot support the candidates of that convention nor be 
bound by its acts. 

The Democratic party has survived defeats, but could not survive 
a victory won in behalf of the doctrine and policy proclaimed in its 
name at Chicago. 

The conditions, however, which make possible such utterances 
from a national convention are the direct result of class legislation 
by the Republican party. It still proclaims, as it has for years, the 
power and duty of Government to raise and maintain prices by law, 
and it proposes no remedy for existing evils, except oppressive and 
unjust taxation. 

The National Democracy here convened therefore renews its decla- 
ration of faith in Democratic principles, especially as applicable to 
the conditions of the times. Taxation — tariff, excise, or direct — is 
rightfully imposed only for public purposes, and not for private 
gain. Its amount is justly measured by public expenditures, which 
should be limited by scrupulous economy. The sum derived by the 
Treasury from tariff and excise levies is affected by the state of trade 
and volume of consumption. The amount required by the Treas- 
ury is determined by the appropriations made by Congress. The 

383 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

demand of the Republican party for an increase in tariff taxation 
has its pretext in the deficiency of revenue, which has its causes in 
the stagnation of trade and reduced consumption, due entirely to the 
loss of confidence that has followed the Populist threat of free coin- 
age and depreciation of our money, and the Republican practice 
of extravagant appropriations beyond the needs of good government. 

We arraign and condemn the Populist conventions of Chicago 
and St. Louis for their co-operation with the Republican party in 
creating these conditions, which are pleaded in justification of a 
heavy increase of the burdens of the people by a further resort to 
protection. We therefore denounce protection and its ally, free 
coinage of silver, as schemes for the personal profit of a few at the 
expense of the masses, and oppose the two parties which stand for 
these schemes as hostile to the people of the Republic, whose food 
and shelter, comfort and prosperity, are attacked by higher taxes 
and depreciated money. In fine, we reaffirm the historic Democratic 
doctrine of tariff for revenue only. 

We demand that henceforth modern and liberal policies toward 
American shipping shall take the place of our imitation of the 
restricted statutes of the eighteenth century, which were long ago 
abandoned by every maritime power but the United States, and 
which, to the nation's humiliation, have driven American capital 
and enterprise to the use of alien flags and alien crews, have made 
the Stars and Stripes almost an unknown emblem in foreign ,ports, 
and have virtually extinguished the race of American seamen. We 
oppose the pretence that discriminating duties will promote shipping; 
that scheme is an invitation to commercial warfare upon the United 
States, un-American in the light of our great commercial treaties, 
offering no gain whatever to American shipping, while greatly in- 
creasing ocean freights on our agricultural and manufactured 
products. 

The experience of mankind has shown that, by reason of their 
natural qualities, gold is the necessary money of the large affairs of 
commerce and business, while silver is conveniently adapted to minor 
transactions, and the most beneficial use of both together can be 
insured only by the adoption of the former as a standard of mone- 
tary measure, and the maintenance of silver at a parity with gold 
by its limited coinage under suitable safeguards of law. Thus the 
largest possible enjoyment of both metals is gained with a value 
universally accepted throughout the world, which constitutes the 
only practical bimetallic currency, assuring the most stable standard, 
and especially the best and safest money for all who earn their live- 
lihood by labor or the produce of husbandry. They cannot suffer 
when paid in the best money known to man, but are the peculiar and 
most defenceless victims of a debased and fluctuating currency, 
which offers continual profits to the money-changer at their cost. 

Realizing these truths, demonstrated by long and public incon- 
venience and loss, the Democratic party, in the interests of the masses 
and of equal justice to all, practically established by the legislation 
of 1834 and 1853 the gold standard of monetary measurement, and 
likewise entirely divorced the Government from banking and cur- 
rency issues. To this long-established Democratic policy we adhere, 
and insist upon the maintenance of the gold standard, and of the 
parity therewith of every dollar issued by the Government, and are 

384 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

firmly opposed to the free and unlimited coinage of silver and to the 
compulsory purchase of silver bullion. But we denounce also the 
further maintenance of the present costly patchwork system of 
national paper currency as a constant source of injury and peril. 
We assert the necessity of such intelligent currency reform as will 
confine the Government to its legitimate functions, completely sepa- 
rated from the banking business, and afford to all sections of our 
country uniform, safe, and elastic bank currency under governmental 
supervision, measured in volume by the needs of business. 

The fidelity, patriotism, and courage with which President Cleve- 
land has fulfilled his great public trust, the high character of his 
administration, its wisdom and energy in the maintenance of civil 
order and the enforcement of the laws, its equal regard for the rights 
of every class and every section, its firm and dignified conduct of for- 
eign affairs, and its sturdy persistence in upholding the credit and 
honor of the nation, are fully recognized by the Democratic party, 
and will secure to him a place in history beside the fathers of the 
Republic. 

We also commend the administration for the great progress made 
in the reform of the public service, and we endorse its effort to 
extend the merit system still further. We demand that no back- 
ward step be taken, but that the reform be supported and advanced 
until the un-Democratic spoils system of appointments shall be erad- 
icated. 

We demand strict economy in the appropriations and in the admin- 
istration of the Government. 

We favor arbitration for the settlement of international disputes. 

We favor a liberal policy of pensions to deserving soldiers and 
sailors of the United States. 

The Supreme Court of the United States was wisely established 
by the framers of our Constitution as one of the three co-ordinate 
branches of the Government. Its independence and authority to 
interpret the law of the land without fear or favor must be main- 
tained. We condemn all efforts to degrade that tribunal or impair 
the confidence and respect which it has deservedly held. 

The Democratic party ever has maintained, and ever will main- 
tain, the supremacy of law, the independence of its judicial adminis- 
tration, the inviolability of contracts, and the obligations of all good 
citizens to resist every illegal trust, combination, or attempt against 
the just rights of property and the good order of society, in which 
are bound up the peace and happiness of our people. 

Believing these principles to be essential to the well-being of the 
Republic, we submit them to the consideration of the American 
people. 

The National Prohibition party held its national conven- 
tion at Pittsburg on the 27th of May. A. A. Stevens, of 
Pennsylvania, was temporary chairman, and Oliver W. 
Stewart, of Illinois, permanent president. The delibera- 
tions of the convention were seriously disturbed by the free- 
silver issue, and the opposing factions known as the " Nar- 
row-Gaugers" and the "Broad-Gaugers," the latter being 

385 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

favorable to a general platform covering free coinage and all 
other national questions, while the former wanted the issue 
confined to the liquor question. The majority and minority 
reports were made on the platform, and the convention 
decided to bring both reports before the body and pass upon 
them seriatim. It was finally decided by a vote of 427 to 387 
to reject the free-coinage plank, and the " Narrow-Gaugers " 
then adopted their own platform as follows : 

We, the members of the Prohibition party, in national conven- 
tion assembled, renewing our declaration of allegiance to Almighty 
God as the rightful Ruler of the universe, lay down the following 
as our declaration of political purpose: 

The Prohibition party, in national convention assembled, declares 
its firm conviction that the manufacture, exportation, importation, 
and sale of alcoholic beverages has produced such social, commer- 
cial, industrial, and political wrongs, and is now so threatening the 
perpetuity of all our social and political institutions, that the sup- 
pression of the same, by a national party organized therefor, is 
the greatest object to be accomplished by the voters of our country, 
and is of such importance that it of right ought to control the 
political actions of all our patriotic citizens until such suppression is 
accomplished. 

The urgency of this course demands the union, without further 
delay, of all citizens who desire the prohibition of the liquor traffic ; 
therefore be it 

Resolved, That we favor the legal prohibition by State and na- 
tional legislation of the manufacture, importation, and sale of alco- 
holic beverages. That we declare our purpose to organize and unite 
all the friends of prohibition into one party, and in order to ac- 
complish this end we deem it of right to leave every Prohibitionist 
the freedom of his own convictions upon all other political ques- 
tions, and trust our representatives to take such action upon other 
political questions as the changes occasioned by prohibition and 
the welfare of the whole people shall demand. 

Resolved, That the right of suffrage ought not to be abridged on 
account of sex. 

Immediately after the adoption of the platform, the 
"Broad-Gaugers" withdrew, and those who remained nomi- 
nated Joshua Levering, of Maryland, for President by 
acclamation, and on a ballot for Vice-President, Hale John- 
son, of Illinois, was chosen, receiving 309 votes to 132 for 
T. C. Hughes, of Arizona. 

The seceders from the Prohibition convention met in 
Pittsburg on the next day, May 28th, with A. L. Moore, of 
Michigan, as chairman, and the roll-call showed 299 dele- 
gates present. Rev. Charles E. Bentley, of Nebraska, was 
nominated for President, and James A. Southgate, of North 

386 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Carolina, was nominated for Vice-President, both by ac- 
clamation. The following platform was adopted : 

The National party, recognizing God as the author of all just 
power in government, presents the following declaration of prin- 
ciples, which it pledges itself to enact into effective legislation when 
given the power to do so : 

i. The suppression of the manufacture and sale, importation, ex- 
portation, and transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage 
purposes. We utterly reject all plans for regulating or compromis- 
ing with this traffic, whether such plans be called local option, taxa- 
tion, license, or public control. The sale of liquors for medicinal 
and other legitimate uses should be conducted by the State, without 
profit, and with such regulations as will prevent fraud or evasion. 

2. No citizen should be denied the right to vote on account of 
sex. 

3. All money should be issued by the General Government only, 
and without the intervention of any private citizen, corporation, or 
banking institution. It should be based upon the wealth, stability, 
and integrity of the nation. It should be a full legal tender for all 
debts, public and private, and should be of sufficient volume to meet 
the demands of the legitimate business interests of the country. For 
the purpose of honestly liquidating our outstanding coin obligations, 
we favor the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold, at 
the ratio of 16 to I, without consulting any other nation. 

4. Land is the common heritage of the people and should be pre- 
served from monopoly and speculation. All unearned grants of 
land subject to forfeiture should be reclaimed by the Government, 
and no portion of the public domain should hereafter be granted ex- 
cept to actual settlers, continuous use being essential to tenure. 

5. Railroads, telegraphs, and other natural monopolies should 
be owned and operated by the Government, giving to the people 
the benefit of service at actual cost. 

6. The national Constitution should be so amended as to allow the 
national revenues to be raised by equitable adjustment of taxation 
on the properties and incomes of the people, and import duties 
should be levied as a means of securing equitable commercial rela- 
tions with other nations. 

7. The contract convict labor system, through which speculators 
are enriched at the expense of the State, should be abolished. 

8. All citizens should be protected by law in their right to one 
day of rest in seven, without oppressing any who conscientiously ob- 
serve any other than the first day of the week. 

9. The American public schools, taught in the English language, 
should be maintained, and no public funds should be appropriated 
for sectarian institutions. 

10. The President, Vice-President, and United States Senators 
should be elected by direct vote of the people. 

11. Ex-soldiers and sailors of the United States army and navy, 
their widows and minor children, should receive liberal pensions, 
graded on disability and term of service, not merely as a debt of 
gratitude, but for service rendered in the preservation of the Union. 

12. Our immigration laws should be so revised as to exclude 

387 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

paupers and criminals. None but citizens of the United States 
should be allowed to vote in any State, and naturalized citizens 
should not vote until one year after naturalization papers have been 
issued. 

13. The initiative and referendum, and proportional representation 
should be adopted. 

The Socialist Labor party held a national convention in 
New York on the 4th of July, and gave a full week to the 
deliberations of the body, which were devoted almost wholly 
to disputation as to the policy and purposes of the organiza- 
tion. The attendance was limited, as Charles H. Matchett, 
of New York, was nominated for President on the 1st 
ballot, receiving 43 votes to 23 for Matthew Maguire, of 
New' Jersey, and 4 for William Watkins, of Ohio. Matthew 
Maguire was then nominated for Vice-President by acclama- 
tion. The following platform was adopted : 

The Socialist Labor party of the United States, in convention 
assembled, reasserts the inalienable right of all men to life, lib- 
erty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

With the founders of the American Republic, we hold that the 
purpose of government is to secure every citizen in the enjoyment 
of this right; but in the light of our social conditions, we hold, 
furthermore, that no such right can be exercised under a system 
of economic inequality, essentially destructive of life, of liberty, and 
of happiness. 

With the founders of this Republic, we hold that the true theory 
of politics is that the machinery of government must be owned 
and controlled by the whole people; but in the light of our indus- 
trial development we hold, furthermore, that the true theory of 
economics is that the machinery of production must likewise belong 
to the people in common. 

To the obvious fact, that our despotic system of economics is the 
direct opposite of our democratic system of politics, can plainly be 
traced the existence of a privileged class, the corruption of gov- 
ernment by that class, the alienation of public property, public fran- 
chises, and public functions to that class, and the abject dependence 
of the mightiest nations upon that class. 

Again, through the perversion of Democracy to the ends of plu- 
tocracy, labor is robbed of the wealth which it alone produces, is 
denied the means of self-employment, and, by compulsory idleness 
in wage slavery, is even deprived of the necessaries of life. Human 
power and natural forces are thus wasted that the plutocracy may 
rule. Ignorance and misery, with all their concomitant evils, are 
perpetuated, that the people may be kept in bondage. Science and 
invention are diverted from their humane purpose to the enslave- 
ment of women and children. 

Against such a system the Socialist Labor party once more enters 
its protest. Once more it reiterates its fundamental declaration, 

388 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

that private property in the natural sources of production and in the 
instruments of labor is the obvious cause of all economic servitude 
and political dependence. 

The time is fast coming when, in the natural course of social 
evolution, this system, through the destructive action of its fail- 
ures and crises on the one hand, and the constructive tendencies of 
its trusts and other capitalistic combinations on the other hand, 
shall have worked out its own downfall. 

We therefore call upon the wage-workers of the United States, 
and upon all other honest citizens, to organize under the banner 
of the Socialist Labor party into a class-conscious body, aware of its 
rights and determined to conquer them by taking possession of the 
public powers ; so that, held together by an indomitable spirit of 
solidarity under the most trying conditions of the present class 
struggle, we may put a summary end to that barbarous struggle by 
the abolition of classes, the restoration of the land, and of all the 
means of production, transportation, and distribution to the people 
as a collective body, and the substitution of the co-operative com- 
monwealth for the present state of planless production, industrial 
war, and social disorder; a commonwealth in which every worker 
shall have the free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, mul- 
tiplied by all the modern factors of civilization. 

With a view to immediate improvement in the condition of labor, 
we present the following demands : 

i. Reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to the progress 
of production. 

2. The United States to obtain possession of the mines, railroads, 
canals, telegraphs, telephones, and all other means of public trans- 
portation and communication ; the employes to operate the same 
co-operatively under control of the Federal Government and to elect 
their own superior officers, but no employe shall be discharged 
for political reasons. 

3. The municipalities to obtain possession of the local railroads, 
ferries, water-works, gas-works, electric plants, and all industries 
requiring municipal franchises ; the employes to operate the same 
co-operatively under control of the municipal administration and to 
elect their own superior officers, but no employe shall be discharged 
for political reasons. 

4. The public lands to be declared inalienable. Revocation of all 
land grants to corporations or individuals, the conditions of which 
have not been complied with. 

5. The United States to have the exclusive right to issue money. 

6. Congressional legislation providing for the scientific manage- 
ment of forests and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of the 
natural resources of the country. 

7. Inventions to be free to all ; the inventors to be remunerated 
by the nation. 

8. Progressive income tax and tax on inheritances ; the smaller 
incomes to be exempt. 

9. School education of all children under fourteen years of age 
to be compulsory, gratuitous, and accessible to all by public assist- 
ance in meals, clothing, books, etc., where necessary. 

10. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, and sumptuary laws. 
Unabridged right of combination. 

389 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

11. Prohibition of the employment of children of school age, and 
the employment of female labor in occupations detrimental to health 
or morality. Abolition of the convict labor contract system. 

12. Employment of the unemployed by the public authorities 
(county, city, state, and nation). 

13. All wages to be paid in lawful money of the United States. 
Equalization of women's wages with those of men where equal 
service is performed. 

14. Laws for the protection of life and limb in all occupations, 
and an efficient employers' liability law. 

15. The people to have the right to propose laws and to vote 
upon all measures of importance, according to the referendum 
principle. 

16. Abolition of the veto power of the executive (national, State, 
and municipal) wherever it exists. 

17. Abolition of the United States Senate and all upper legisla- 
tive chambers. 

18. Municipal self-government. 

19. Direct vote and secret ballots in all elections. Universal and 
equal right of suffrage without regard to color, creed, or sex. 
Election days to be legal holidays. The principle of proportional 
representation to be introduced. 

20. All public officers to be subject to recall by their respective 
constituencies. 

21. Uniform civil and criminal law throughout the United States. 
Administration of justice to be free of charge. Abolition of capital 
punishment. 



The great battle of 1896 is yet fresh in the memories of 
the people. Its most notable feature was the unexampled 
campaign made by Bryan, the Democratic candidate for 
President. He covered a larger portion of territory and 
delivered more speeches during the campaign than had 
ever before been accomplished by any man in our political 
history, and he enthused his followers to a very remarkable 
degree. Considering the complications which confronted 
him, resulting from the internal feuds of his own household, 
and an open split on the Vice-Presidency, he made the most 
memorable Presidential campaign of the Republic and swept 
every State west of the Mississippi, with the exception of 
California and North Dakota. Even Kansas and Nebraska, 
two rock-ribbed Republican States, gave Bryan large majori- 
ties, but Bryan did not carry a single electoral vote east of 
the Mississippi and north of the Ohio and the Potomac. 
The following tables exhibit the popular and electoral votes 
of 1896: 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



POPULAR VOTE. 



STATES. 



Alabama 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado , 

Connecticut 

Delaware , 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts . . , 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire. 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina . . 
North Dakota... 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina .. 

South Dakota 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 



M 
o 



54,737 

37,512 
146,688 

26.271 
110,285 

20,452 

11,257 

60,091 
6,324 
607,130 
323,754 
289,293 
159,541 
218,171 

22,037 

80,461 
136,978 
278,976 
293,582 
193,503 
5,123 
304,940 

10,494 

103,064 

1,938 

57,444 
221,367 
819,838 
155,222 

26,335 
525,991 

48,779 
728,300 

37,437 
9,313 

41,042 
148,773 
167,520 

13,491 

50,991 
135,388 

39,153 
104,414 
268,135 

10,072 



C 

u n 



•552! 



•a 
a 

<A 

a 

u 

PQ 



131,226 

110,103 

144,766 

161,269 

56,740 

16,615 

31,958 

94,672 

23,192 

464,523 

305,573 

223,741 

171,810 

217,890 

77,175 

34.587 

104,746 

105,711 

237,268 

139,735 

63,793 

363,652 

42,537 

115,999 

8,377 

21,650 

133,675 

551,369 

174,488 

20,686 

477,497 

46,662 

433,230 

14,459 

58,801 

41,225 

166,268 

370,434 

64,607 

10,607 

154,985 

51.646 

92,927 

165,523 

10,655 



Totals 7,111,607 6,509,052 222,583 134,645 131,312 13,968 36,373 



24,089 

21,730 

2,389 



2,387 
15,181 

7,517 



575 
379 



4,525 
79,572 

4G1 



286 



«s.2 
Cu o 

si 

.ej 

o 



6,462 



6,390 
2,145 
4,516 
1,209 
5,114 
1,915 
1,866 
2,507 
11,749 
6,968 
3,222 
1,071 
2,355 

2,797 

3,520 

6,373 

18,950 

578 

1,858 

977 

10,921 

1,166 

824 

1,951 
5,046 
21 
1,329 
2,127 
1,668 
677 
4,584 



be 
.5 

2% 



2,147 

839 

2,573 

1,717 

1,800 

602 

644 

5,716 

181 

9,796 

3.056 

3.192 

1,921 

4,781 

1,589 
5,922 
2,998 
5,025 
4,363 

485 
2,169 

186 
1,243 



683 
3,098 
1,786 

728 
2,350 

968 
1,203 
7,509 

136 



*j 

CD tf 

W u 



893 

1,047 

386 



o 
o 

OS 
A 
O 



1.611 

160 

1,228 



1,147 
324 
453 



588 

2,114 

297 

954 

599 

186 

228 

3,985 

17,667 



1,167 

1,683 
558 



115 
1,314 



* Bryan and Watson's vote is included in the vote for W. J. Bryan. 



39i 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



ELECTORAL VOTE. 



STATES. 



Alabama 

Arkansas , 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana , 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts. . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New York , 

North Carolina., 
North Dakota... 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania. . . 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina.. 
South Dakota. .. 

Tennessee 

Texas , 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia.. 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 

Totals 



President. 



M 



24 
15 
13 

12 



15 

14 

9 



4 

10 
33 

3 

23 
4 

32 
4 



6 
12 



c 

el 
u 



271 



11 



4 

13 

3 



10 
1 



3 

8 
3 

11 



9 

4 
12 
15 

3 

12 

4 



Vice-President. 



176 



+-> 




c 






o 


cj 


si 


\fi 


XI 


£ 


S3 


w 


xn 


£ - 




11 




— 


5 


3 


8 
6 


1 

4 


— 


3 


4 
13 


— 


— 


3 


— 


24 


— 


— 


15 


— 


— 


13 


— 


— 


— 


10 


— 


12 


1 


— 


— 


4 


4 


6 


— 


— 


8 





< — 


15 


— 


— 


14 

9 


— 


— 


— 


9 
13 


4 


— 


2 


1 


— 


4 
3 


4 


4 


■ 


10 


— 


— 


36 


— 


— 


— 


6 


5 


3 


— 


— 


23 

4 

32 


— 


— 








4 


9 
2 


— 





2 


. 


12 


— 





15 


— 


— 


2 


1 


4 


— 


— 


— 


12 


— 


6 
12 


2 


2 








— 


o 


1 


271 


149 


27 



No mere party contest in the history of the country, and 
indeed no other contest, with the single exception of the 
issue of secession and civil war, ever exhibited so large 



392 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

a measure of political independence as is shown in the vote 
for President in 1896. While the Democrats had a sound- 
money national ticket with such acceptable candidates as 
Palmer and Buckner, a very small proportion of the sound- 
money Democratic vote of the country was cast for that 
ticket. McKinley certainly received 500,000 Democratic 
votes, cast for him directly to assure the defeat of Bryan, and 
Bryan certainly received not less than 250,000 Republican 
votes. 

It was not until six weeks before the election that the 
Republicans felt confident of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. 
The first canvass of the Republican State committee made 
in Ohio indicated the defeat of McKinley, but as the business 
and industrial interests of the country faced the question 
of cheap money, and the business convulsion it must produce, 
the Republican ranks were steadily increased, and the States 
which were regarded as doubtful in September gave large 
majorities for McKinley in November. 

This campaign gave a most impressive illustration of the 
true independence of American journalism. A number of 
the leading newspapers of the country which had supported 
Cleveland in his three contests, repudiated the Chicago 
platform and its candidate, and they stood in the forefront 
of American journalism, embracing such journals as the 
Boston Herald and Globe, the Hartford Times, the New 
York World, Sun, Herald, Times, and Evening Post, the 
Philadelphia Times and Record, the Baltimore Sun, the 
Louisville Courier- Journal, and others. These journals were 
all strongly owned and entirely independent in their political 
action. Not one of them ever had conference or communica- 
tion with the McKinley leaders, or received or proposed any 
terms for their support, or ever sought, accepted, or desired 
favors from the McKinley administration. Some of them 
suffered pecuniary sacrifice, but they performed a heroic 
duty, and it was the inspiration they gave to the conservative 
Democratic sentiment of the country that made McKinley 
President by an overwhelming majority. 

On the other side, especially in the West, and to some 
extent in the South, scores of thousands of the Republicans 
who had always voted the national ticket gave enthusiastic 
support to Bryan, as he carried some of the strongest 
Republican States of the West, while losing a large fraction 
of the Democratic vote. This struggle settled the financial 

393 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

policy of the country, as Congress has recently distinctly 
established the gold standard by statute, in accord with the 
financial policy of all the great civilized nations of the world ; 
and while the money issue may play some part in the national 
struggle of the present year, it will be wisely subordinated 
to other issues and probably be eliminated from the future 
political battles of the nation. 



SUMMARY OF POPULAR VOTES FOR 
PRESIDENTS 



I was surprised, after careful examination of the various 
political handbooks, to find no table of the popular vote for 
President prior to 1824, and I made exhaustive effort to ob- 
tain official records in the archives of the nation and of the 
different States, to supply something approaching an intelli- 
gent table of the popular vote cast for the early Presidents ; 
but I learned that the failure of others to supply such tables 
was not because of negligence, but because there are no 
records to furnish them. In Pennsylvania the vote returned 
to the Capitol was less than 5000 for Washington, and the 
vote of record for his second election but little exceeds 5000. 
The returns, however, are fragmentary and valueless. I 
was compelled to abandon the purpose of giving tables of the 
popular vote for Presidents prior to 1824, because all that 
•could be obtained would be confusing rather than instructive. 

I have also found much difficulty in trying to reconcile the 
conflicting returns of every Presidential election since 1824. 
After a very full and careful examination of these conflicting 
figures, I have adopted the tables prepared by Mr. Stanwood 
in his admirable work entitled " A History of the Presi- 
dency," and I regard them as more nearly accurate than any 
other tables presented. The entire accuracy of these elec- 
tion tables is not a matter of vital importance, as in none of 
the many conflicting returns of different States would the 
result have been changed by the variations in the returns as 
stated in the many publications which for some years past 
have annually given them. The following summary of the 
popular vote for Presidents since 1824, with the electoral 
vote cast at each election, is taken from the New York 
World Almanac for 1900, the figures of which, as will be 
seen, usually vary from those presented in the tables I give 
with each chapter of this volume : 

395 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



ELECTORAL AXD POPULAR VOTES. 



Year cf 

Election. 


Candidates for President, State, and 
Political Party. 


Popular 
Vote. 


~, Elec- 
rftllt y- Vote. 


Candidates for Vice-President, State, 
and Political Party. 


Elec- 
toral 
Vote. 


1824.... 




155,872 

105,321 

45,587 

44,282 


50,551 !(b)99 
84 


John C.Calhoun,* S. C. E.ep 

Nathan Sanford, N. Y., Rep . 


182 
30 
24 






37 

41 


Nathaniel Macon, X, C, Rep. . 














M. Van Buren, N. Y., Rep 






Henry CI •v, Kv., Rep 


2 




;W7.231 
509,097 


130,134 


178 
83 


John C. Calhoun,* S. C, Dem 

Richard Ru.h, Pa., Nat. R 


171 
83 


' 




7 




6»7,502 
530.1S9 

\ 33,108 


157,313 


219 

49 

I "J 




189 




Henry Clav, Kv., Xat. R 


John Sergeant, Pa., Nat. R 






11 


William "Wirt (c), Md., Anti-M 


William Wilkins, Pa., Dem 


7 

30 


1866.... 
1840.... 


W. H. Harrison, 0., Whig 


761,549 

1 

S 73G,656 


24,893 

1 


170R. M. Johnson (d).*Kv., Dem 


147 


Hugh L. White, Tenn., Whig 


56 

Hi 

60 


John Tvler, Va., Whig ? 


47 




23 






W. H. Harrison,* 0., Whig 

JaineaG. Bimey, N. Y., Lib 


1, 275,017 

1,153.702 

7,059 


146,315 


John Tyler,* Va., Whig. 


234 




L. W. Tazewell, Va., Dem 


43 
11 






1 


1844.... 

1848... . 




1,337,243 

1,299,068 

62,300 


38,175 
739,557 


170 

105 


George M. Dallas,* Ph., Dem. . 


170 


Henry Clav, Ky., Whig 




105 










163 








1,360,101 

1,220,544 

291,253 


MillorH nilmmtH V Wl.iV 


163 




127 William O. Rntler. Kv.. 11™ 


127 


Martin Van Buren, X. Y., F. Soil 


254 

42 

:: 


Chas. F. Adams, Mass., F. Soil 




|WinfieldScott, X. J., Whig 

John P. Hale, X. H.. F. D. (i) 

Daniel Webster (k), Mas?., Whig 


1,601,474 

1,380,576 

156,149 

1.670 


820,836 


William R. King,* Ala., Dem 

William A. Graham, N. C. Whig 
George W. Julian, Ind., F. D 


254 
42 


1856.... 




1 S3S 169 




174 




1,341,264 


114 William I.. Davtnn. N_"j.. Ren 


114 




£74 .535 




8 




8 








I860.... 


Stephen A. Douglas, 111., Dem j 1,375,157 


491,195 


180 
12 
72 
39 




UO 
19 

72 






589,581 




39 


1864... 










2,216,067 
1,808,725 


407,349 


e212 
21 

7il4 




212 
31 


1868...- 


Ulvsses S. Grant,* 111., Rep 


3,015,071 


305,456 


Schuyler Colfax,* Ind., Rep ' 

F. P. Blair, Jr., Mo., Dem 


214 






_80 


80 






*. jr. DMir, or., -lv., 




18?8..~ 


CI vises S. Grant.* 111., Rep 


3,597,070 

2,834,079 

29,408 

5,608 


76:',99i 


286 Henry Wilson,* Mass., Rep 

g •• JB. Gratz Brown, Mo., D. L 

• • iJohn Q. Adams, Mass., Dem 


286 




Charles O'Conor, X. Y., Dem 


47 












42! 
18 

2! 
1 


George W. Julian, Ind., Lib 


5 
5 








3 








3 








] 




Willis B. Machen, Kv., Dem 

N. P. Banks, Mass., Lib 


1 
1 


1876.... 


Rutherford B. Haves,* 0.. Rep 


4,284,385 

4,033,950 

81,740 

9,522 

2,636 






184 






hlS5 

" i 
214 


William A. Wheeler,* X. Y., Rep.... 

Gideon T. Stewart,0., Pro 

D. Kirkpatrick, N. Y., Amer 


185 








1880.... 




4,449,053 

4,442,035 

307,306 

10,305 

707 


7,018 


Chester A.Arthur,* X. Y., Eep 


214 




W. S. Hancock, Pa., Dem 


155 


William H. English, Ind., Dem 

B. J. Chambers, Texas, Gre'nb 

H. A. Thom-oson. O.. Pro 


155 


1884-... 


Neal Dow, Me., Pro 


••« 


John W. Phelps, Vt., Amer 








4,911,017 

4,848,334 

151,809 

133,825 




219 




219 


182 




163 






•• 


William Daniel, Md., Pro 

A. IL West, Miss., Peop 


.. 


Benjamin F. Butler, Mass., Peop 

P. D. Wigginton, Cal., Amer 


-. 



396 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 



electoral and popular vote — Continued. 



Year of 
Election. 


Candidates for President, State, and 
Political Party. 


Popular 
Vote. 

5,538,233 

5,440,216 

249,907 

148,105 

2,808 

1,591 


Plu- 
rality. 

93,017 


Elec 
toral 
Vote. 


Candidates i«r Vice-President, State, 
and Political Party. 


Els- 

toral 
Vote. 


1888.... 


Clinton B. Fisk, N. J., Pro 


168 
233 


Allen G. Thunnan, O., Dem 


1*8 




Levi P. Morton,* N. Y., Rep 


233 




John A. Brooks, Mo., Pro 

W. H. T. Waketield, Kan., U'd L.... 






Alson J. Streeter, 111., U. L 

R. H. Cowdry, 111., U'd L 


•- 






*■ 










189*.... 




5,556,918 

5,176,108 

1,041,028 

264,133 

21,164 


380,810 
T01,851 


277 
145 
22 


WhitelawReid, N. Y., Rep.. 


S7T 
145 




John Bidwell, Cal., Pro 




S2 












Charles H. Matchett, N. Y., Soc. L... 










IS IKS 


William McKinley,* 0., Rep 


7,104,779 

6,502,925 

132,007 
133,148 

36,274) 
13,969 1 


271 
176 


Garret A. Hobart,* N. J., Rep 






William J. Bryan, Neb., Dem. ) 
William J. Bryan, Neb., Pop. ) 


17tJ 
















Charles H. Matchett, N. Y., Soc. L.... 
Charles E. Bcntlev, Neb., Nat. (j) 


Matthew Maguire, N. J., Soc. L 

lames H. Southgate, N. C, Nat. (j ).. 


•* 



* The candidates starred were elected, (a) The first Republican Party Is claimed by the present Democratic Party as If s 
progenitor, (b) No candidate having a majority of the electoral vote, the House of Representatives elected Adams, (c) Can- 
didate of the Anti-Masonic Party, (d) There being no choice, the Senate elected Johnson, (e) Eleven Southern States, 
baing within the belligerent territory, did not vote, (f ) Three Southern States disfranchised, (g) Horace Greeley died after 
election, and Democratic electors scattered their vote, (h) There being a dispute over the electoral votes of Florida, Louisi- 
ana, Oregon, and South Carolina, they were referred by Congress to »n electoral commission composed of eight Republicans 
and ssven Democrats, which, by a strict party vote, awarded 185 electoral votes to Hayes and 184 to Tilden. (i) Free Demo- 
crat, (j) Free-Silver Prohibition Party, (k) In Massachusetts. There was also a Native American ticket in that State, 
which received 1.34 votes. 



I also present the lists of the Presidents and Vice-Presi- 
dents of the United States, as given in the New York World 
Almanac for 1900, as follows : 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Name. 



George Washington.. 

John Adams 

Thomas Jefferson 

James Madison 

James Monroe 

John Quincy Adams. . 

Andrew Jackson 

Martin Van Butch.. . . 
William II. Harrison. 

John Tyler 

James K.Polk 

Zachary Taylor 

Millard Fillmore 

Franklin Pierce 

Jame3 Buchanan 

Abraham Lincoln 

Andrew Johnson 

Ulysses S. Grant 

Rntherford B. Hayes. 

James A. Garfield 

Chester A. Arthur.... 

Groyer Cleveland 

Benjamin Harrison.... 

Grover Cleveland 

William McKinley. .. 



Birthplace. 



Westmoreland Co., Va. 

Quincy, Mass 

Shadwell, Va 

Port Conway, Va 

Westmoreland Co., Va. 

Quincy, Mass 

Union Co., N. C... 
Kinderbook, N. Y... 

Berkeley, Va 

Greenway, Va 

Mecklenburg, Co., N.C 

Orange Co., Va 

Summerhill, N. Y. . 
Hillsboro, N. H.... 

Cove Gap, Pa 

Lame Co., Kv 

Raleigh, N. C 

Point Pleasant, O.., 

Delaware, O 

Cuvahoga Co., O... 

Fairfield, Vt 

Caldwell, N.J 

North Bend, O 

Caldwell, N. J 

Niles, O 



Paternal 
Ancestry. 



1732 
1735 
1743 
1751 

1758 

1767 

1767 

1782 

1773 

1790 

1795 

1784 

1S00 

1804 

1791 

1809 

1 

1822 

1822 

1831 

1830 

1837 

1833 

H37 

1843 



English 

English 

Welsh 

English 

Scotch 

English 

Scotch-Irish. 

Dutch 

English 

English 

Scotch-Irish, 

English 

English 

English 

Scotch-Irish 

English 

English 

Scotch 

Scotch 

English 

Scotch-Irish 

English 

English 

English 

Scotch-Irish 



Pi-o 

Va~ 
Mass, 
Va.... 
Va.... 
Va... 
Mass 
Tenn 
N. Y 
O... 
Va... 
Tenn 
La... 
N. Y 
N. H 
Pa... 
111... 
Tenn 
D. C. 
O... 
O... 
N. Y 
N. Y 
Lid.. 
N. Y 
O... 



Inaugurated. 




1797 
1801 
1809 
1817 
1825 
1829 
1837 
1841 
1841 
1845 
1849 
1850 
1853 
1857 
1861 
1865 
1869 
1877 
18S1 
1881 
18S5 
1889 
1893 
1897 



Politics. 



Fed.... 
Fed.... 
Rep.... 

Rep.... 
Rep.... 
Rep.... 
Dem..., 
Dem..., 
Whig.. 
Dem... , 
Dem... 
Whig.. 
Whig.. 
Dem... 
Dem... 
Rep... 
Rep... 
Rep... 
Rep... 
Rep... 
Rep... 
Dem... 
Rep . . . 
Dem... 
Rep... 



Place of Death. 



Mt. Vernon, Va 

Quincy, Mass 

Monticello, Va 

Montpelier, Va 

New York City 

Washington, D. C 

Hermitage, Tenn 

Lindenwold, N. Y 

Washington, D. C 

Richmond, Va 

Nashville, Tenn 

Washington, D. C... 

Buffalo, N. Y 

Concord, N. II 

Wheatland, Pa 

Washington, D. C... 
Carter's Depot, Tenn.. 
Mt. McGregor, N. Y. . 

Fremont, O 

Long Branch, N. J 

New York City 



1799 

1 

1826 

1826 
1831 
1843 
1845 

1862 
1841 
1802 
1849 
1850 
1874 
18K9 
1S68 
1865 
1875 
1885 
189, 
18S1 



397 



OUR PRESIDENTS 



VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Nam*. 



Birthplace. 



1 John Adams 

S Thomas Jefferson 

3 Aaron Burr 

4 George Clinton 

5 Elbridge Gerry 

6 Daniel D. Tompkins.. 

7 John C. Calhoun 

8 Martin Van Buren.... 

9 Richard M. Johnson.. 

10'John Tvler 

11 George M. Dallas 

12'Millard Fillmore..... 

13. William R. Kin- 

14 John C. Breckenridge. 
15 ; Hannibal Hamlin 

16i Andrew Johnson 

1 7 < Schuyler Colfax 

1? Henrv Wilson 

19 William A. Wheeler. 

20 Chester A. Arthur... 
21|Thos. A. Hendricks.. 

?* Levi P. Morton 

23jAdlai E. Stevenson... 
24' Garret A. Hobart 



iQuincy, Mass , 

jShadwell, Va 

j Newark, N. J 

Ulster Co., N. Y 

Marblehead, Mass 

Scarsdale, N. Y 

(Abbeville, S. C 

Kinderhook, N. Y 

'Louisville, Ky 

jGreenway, Va 

Philadelphia. Pa , 

Summer Hill, N. Y... 
(Sampson Co., N. C . . 

Lexington, Ky 

Paris, Me 

Raleigh, N. C 

New York City, N. Y 
|Farmington, N. H... 
IMalone, N. Y 

Fairfield, Vt 

Muskingum Co., O. .. 

'Shoreham, Vt 

(Christian Co., Ky 

iLong Branch, N. J... 



1735 

1743 

1756 

1739 

1744 

1774 

1762 

1782 

1780 

1790 

1792 

1300 

1786 

1821 

1309 

1 

1823 

1812 

1819 

1830 

1819 

1S24 

1835 

1844 



Paternal 
Ancestry. 

English 

Welsh 

Euglith 

Engli-h 

English 

English 

Scotch-Irish. 

Dutch 

English 

English 

English 

English 

English 

Scotch 

English 

Fnglish 

English 

English. 

English 

Scotch-Irish 
Scotch-Irish 

Scotch 

Scotch-Irish 
English 



Mass. 

N. Y. 
N. Y. 

Mass. 
N. Y. 
S. C. 
N. Y. 

Ky... 

\ a 

Pa.... 
N. Y 

Ala... 
Kv.- 
M?... 
Tenn, 
Ind.. 
Mass 
N. Y 
N. Y 
Ind.. 
N. Y 
111... 
N. J. 



Politics. 



1189 Fed 

1797 Rep 

1801 - 

1S05 

1813 

1817 

1825 

1S33 

1637 

1641 

1845 

1649 

lS53JDem .. 

1857 

1S61 

1865 

1869 

1873 

1877 

1831 

1685 

18S9 

1893 

1897 



Rep.. 
Rep.. 
Rep.. 
Rep.. 
E.ep.. 
Drm . 
Dem . 
Dem . 
Dem . 
Whig 



Dem. 
Rep.. 
Rep.. 
Rep.. 
Rep.. 
Rep. . 
Rep.. 
Dem . 
Rep.. 
Dem . 
Rep.. 



Place of Death. 



Quincy, Mass 

Monti cello, Va 

Staten Island, N. Y... 

Washington, D. C 

Washington, D. C 

Staten Island, N. Y. . . 

Washington, D. C 

Kinderhook, N. Y 

Frankfort, Ky 

Richmond, Na 

Philadelphia, Pa 

Buffalo, N. T 

Dallas Co., Ala 

Lexington. Ky 

Bangor, Me 

Carter Co., Tenn 

Mankato, Minn 

Washington,!). C 

Malone, N. Y 

New York City, N. Y. 
Indianapolis, Ind 



I'aterson, N. J 169$ £ t 



i8i<5 


96 


lt)2C 


B3 


183C 


86 


1819 


73 


1514 


70 


1825 


51 


; c ;o 


6S 


1862 


'79 


1650 


70 


:se r - 


72 


1864 


72 


1874 


74 


1853 


67 


1875 


£4 


1891 


61 


1875 


60 


1885 


52 


iS7£ 


13 


I=£7 


65 


1886 


£5 


:s*i 


66 



<c 



President Buchanan was the only Chief Magistrate of the 
Republic who, having served one term in the Presidency, 
was not a candidate for re-election. ^He announced his pur- 
pose not to be a candidate in his inaugural address, and I 
doubt not that he nevei swerved from that determination. 
At the close of his administration the political conditions 
gave no promise of his re-election, however much he might 
have desired it, but he was then past the patriarchal years, 
and he is the one President who entered the office to 
serve only a term and adhered to it. The elder Adams was 
defeated for re-election by Jefferson; the younger Adams 
was defeated for re-election by Jackson ; Van Buren was de- 
feated for re-election by the elder Harrison, and the younger 
Harrison was defeated for re-election by Cleveland, while 
Hayes, Polk and Pierce were candidates for re-election, but 
were rejected by the party. 

Four Vice-Presidents succeeded to the Presidency by the 
death of the President, and all of them were earnest candi- 
dates for election to another term. Tyler and Johnson 
sought the Democratic nomination and failed. Fillmore 
failed in the struggle for the Whig nomination, and Arthur 
was defeated by Blaine. 

Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lin- 
coln, Grant, and Cleveland were twice elected President. 
Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland were each defeated for the 

398 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

Presidency, although twice elected. Jefferson and Jackson 
were defeated in their first contests, and then elected to two 
successive terms, and Cleveland was elected in 1884, defeated 
in 1888, and re-elected in 1892. Jackson and Cleveland are 
the only two Presidents who were candidates in three na- 
tional elections and received an increased plurality in each 
successive contest. Both were defeated in one battle when 
they had received the largest popular vote. Grant was the 
only President who made a struggle for a third term. 

Four Presidents died in office — namely, Harrison in 1841, 
after having served but little over a month; Taylor in 1850, 
after having served less than a year and a half; Lincoln in 
1865, only a little more than a month after his second 
inauguration, and Garfield in 1881, before the close of the 
first year of his administration. 

Six Vice-Presidents have died in office: Clinton in 1812, 
after having presided over the Senate for seven years ; Gerry 
in 1814, after little more than a year of service; William 
R. King, in 1853, wno to °k tne oatn as Vice-President 
on the 4th of March of that year in Cuba, and died soon 
thereafter; Henry Wilson in 1875, having served but little 
more than half his term; Thomas A. Hendricks in 1885, 
having served less than a year, and Hobart in 1899, leaving 
nearly a year and a half of his term unexpired. 

No President pro tern, of the Senate has ever reached the 
Presidency. There was only one occasion in the history of 
the Government when it seemed probable that the President 
pro tent, might be called to the chief executive office of the 
nation. Johnson, as Vice-President, had succeeded Lincoln 
as President, and Senator Wade, of Ohio, was president 
pro tern, of the Senate. In 1868, some ten months before 
the expiration of Johnson's term, he was impeached by the 
House, and acquitted in the Senate by a single vote. The 
question was then raised as to whether the President pro tern. 
of the Senate was such an officer as was contemplated by the 
Constitution to fill the office of President, and there was con- 
siderable agitation from time to time on the subject in Con- 
gress, which finally culminated in the passage of the Presi- 
dential Succession bill of January 18, 1886, by which the suc- 
cession to the Presidency is fully defined and eligibles are 
provided quite sufficient in number to meet any possible 
emergency. The following is the full text of the present law 
regulating the Presidential succession : 

399 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

Be it enacted, etc., that in case of the removal, death, resigna- 
tion, or inability of both the President and Vice-President of the 
United States, the Secretary of State, or if there be none, or in 
case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, 
death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of War, or if 
there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or in- 
ability, then the Attorney-General, or if there be none, or in case 
of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Postmaster- 
General, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resig- 
nation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Navy, or if there 
be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, 
then the Secretary of the Interior shall act as President until the 
disability of the President or Vice-President is removed, or a 
President shall be elected : provided, that whenever the powers and 
duties of the office of President of the United States shall devolve 
upon any of the persons named herein, if Congress be not then in 
session, or if it would not meet in accordance with law within 
twenty days thereafter, it shall be the duty of the person upon whom 
said powers and duties shall devolve to issue a proclamation con- 
vening Congress in extraordinary session, giving twenty days' notice 
of the time of meeting. 

Section 2. That the preceding section shall only be held to 
describe and apply to such officers as shall have been appointed ,by 
the advice and consent of the Senate to the offices therein named, 
and such as are eligible to the office of President under the Consti- 
tution, and not under impeachment by the House of Representatives 
of the United States at the time the powers and duties of the office 
shall devolve upon them respectively. 

Sec. 3. That sections 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150 of the Revised 
Statutes are hereby repealed. 



CONTESTED PRESIDENTIAL ELEC- 
TIONS 



There have been only two seriously contested elections in 
the history of our Presidential conflicts. They were the 
contest between Jefferson and Burr in 1 800-1 and the con- 
test between Hayes and Tilden in 1876-7. The Hayes-Til- 
den contest brought the country to the verge of revolution, 
and the very close battle between Garfield and Hancock four 
years later, and the Cleveland-Blaine struggle of 1884, that 
turned upon 1.100 majority in a vote of nearly 6,000,000 in 
New York State, taught the necessity of having some definite 
statute providing for the determination of disputed electoral 
votes in the States by which such disputes would be prac- 
tically eliminated from the powers of Congress. The fol- 
lowing is the full text of the present statute, approved Feb- 
ruary 3, 1887, providing for the determination of contested 
electors : 

Be it enacted, etc., that the electors of each State shall meet and 
give their votes on the second Monday in January next following 
their appointment, at such place in each State as the Legislature 
of such State shall direct. 

Section 2. That if any State shall have provided, by laws en- 
acted prior to the day fixed for the appointment of the electors, 
for its final determination of any controversy or contest concern- 
ing the appointment of all or any of the electors of such State, by 
judicial or other methods of procedure, and such determination 
shall have been made at least six days before the time fixed for the 
meeting of the electors, such determination made pursuant to such 
law so existing on said day, and made at least six days prior to the 
said time of meeting of the electors, shall be conclusive, and shall 
govern in the counting of the electoral votes as provided in the 
Constitution, as hereinafter regulated, so far as the ascertainment 
of the electors appointed by. such State is concerned. 

Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the executive of each 
State, as soon as practicable after the conclusion of the appointment 
of electors in such State, by the final ascertainment under and in 
pursuance of the laws of such State providing for such ascertain- 
ment, to communicate under the seal of the State, to the Secretary 

401 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

of State of the United States, a certificate of such ascertainment of 
the electors appointed, setting forth the names of such electors and 
the canvass or other ascertainment, under the laws of such State, 
of the number of votes given or cast for each person for whose 
appointment any and all votes have been given or cast; and it shall 
also thereupon be the duty of the executive of each State to deliver 
to the electors of such State, on or before the day on which they are 
required, by the preceding section, to meet, the same certificate, in 
triplicate, under the seal of the State; and such certificate shall be 
enclosed and transmitted by the electors at the same time and in 
the same manner as is provided by law for transmitting by such 
electors to the seat of government the lists of all persons voted for 
as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President: and 
Section 136 of the Revised Statutes is hereby repealed; and if there 
shall have been any final determination in the State of a controversy 
or contest, as provided for in Section 2 of this act, it shall be the 
duty of the executive of such State, as soon as practicable after such 
determination, to commur.::i:e. under the seal of the State, to the 
Secretary of State of the United States, a certificate of such deter- 
mination, in form and manner as the same shall have been made; 
and the Secretary of State of the United State;, as soon as prac- 
ticable after the receipt at the State Department of each of the cer- 
tificates hereinbefore directed to be transmitted to the Secretary 
of State, shall publish, in such public newspaper as he shall desig- 
nate, such certificates in full; and at the first meeting of Congrt :; , 
thereafter, he shall transmit to the two Houses of Congress copies 
in full of each and every such certificate so received theretofore at 
the State Departmer.:. 

Sec. 4. That Congress shall be in session on the second 
Wednesday in Februan- succeeding every meeting of the electors. 
The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the hall 
of the House of Representatives at the hour of one o'clock in the 
afternoon, on that day, and the President of the Senate shall be 
their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed 
on the part o£ the Senate, and two on the part of the House of 
Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by 
the President of the Senate, all the certificates and papers purport- 
ing to be the certificates of the electoral vote, which certificates and 
papers shall be opened, presented, and acted upon in the alphabetical 
order of the States, beginnirg ::h the letter A; and said tellers, 
having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two 
Houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from 
the said certificates, and, the votes having been ascertained and 
counted in the manner and according to the rules in this act pro- 
vided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of 
the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, 
which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the 
persons, if any, elected President and Vice-President of the United 
States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the 
journals of the two Houses. Upon such reading of any such cer- 
tificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, 
if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state 
clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and 
shall be signed by at least one senator and one member of the House 

A 02 



AND HOW WE MAKE THEM 

of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all ob- 
jections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been 
received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such 
objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, sub- 
mit such objections to the House of Represestatives for its decision; 
and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been 
regularly given by electors, whose appointment has been lawfully 
certified to according to Section 3 of this act, from which but one re- 
turn has been received, shall be rejected; but the two Houses con- 
currently may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such 
vote or votes have not been s<*> regularly given by electors whose 
appointment has been so certified. If more than one return or 
paper purporting to be a return from a State shall have been re- 
ceived by the President of the Senate, those votes, and those only, 
shall be counted which shall have been regularly given by the elect- 
ors who are shown by the determination mentioned in Section 2 
of this act to have been appointed, if the determination in said sec- 
tion provided for shall have been made, or by such successors, or 
substitutes, in case of a vacancy in the board of electors v so ascer- 
tained, as have been appointed to fill such vacancy in the mode 
provided by the laws of the State ; but in case there shall arise a 
question which of two or more of such State authorities determin- 
ing what electors have been appointed, as mentioned in Section 2 of 
this act, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the votes regularly given 
of those electors, and those only, of such State shall be counted 
whose title as electors the two Houses, acting separately, shall con- 
currently decide is supported by the decision of such State so au- 
thorized by its laws ; and in such case of more than one return or 
paper purporting to be a return from a State, if there shall have 
been no such determination of the question in the State aforesaid, 
then those votes, and those only, shall be counted which the two 
Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful electors ap- 
pointed in accordance with the laws of the State, unless the two 
Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide such votes not 
to be the lawful votes of the legally appointed electors of such 
State. But if the two Houses shall disagree in respect of the count- 
ing of such votes, then and in that case the votes of the electors whose 
appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, 
under the seal thereof, shall be counted. When the two Houses 
have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and the presiding 
officer shall then announce the decision of the questions submitted. 
No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the 
objections previously made to the votes ©r papers from any State 
shall have been finally disposed of. 

Sec. 5. That while the two Houses shall be in meeting as pro- 
vided in this act, the President of the Senate shall have power to 
preserve order; and no debate shall be allowed and no question shall 
be put by the presiding officer, except to either House on a motion 
to withdraw. 

Sec. 6. That when the two Houses separate to decide upon 
an objection that may have been made to the counting of any elec- 
toral vote or votes from any State, or other question arising in the 
matter, each Senator and Representative may speak to such objec- 

403 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

tion or question five minutes, and not more than once; but after 
such debate shall have lasted two hours, it shall be the duty of the 
presiding officer of each House to put the main question without 
further debate. 

Sec. 7. Such joint meeting shall not be dissolved until the 
count of electoral votes shall be completed and the result declared ; 
and no recess shall be taken unless a question shall have arisen in 
regard to counting any such votes, or otherwise under this act, in 
which case it shall be competent for either House, acting separately, 
in the manner hereinbefore provided, to direct a recess of such" 
House not beyond the next calendar day, Sunday excepted, at the 
hour of ten o'clock in the forenoon. But if the counting of the 
electoral votes and the declaration of the result shall not have been 
completed before the fifth calendar day next after such first meet- 
ing of the two Houses, no further or other recess shall be taken by 
either House. 



INDEX 



Abolition party, birth of the, and 
its first candidates, 65 ; its sec- 
ond nominations, 84, 85 ; its plat- 
form in 1844, 85-88 ; its leaders 
denounced by Greeley, 90. 

Adams, Charles Francis, a candi- 
date for the nomination of Pres- 
ident by the Liberal Republi- 
cans, 229. 

Adams, John, his first election to 
the Vice-Presidency, 2-4 ; his 
second election to the Vice-Pres- 
idency, 4-6 ; his election to the 
Presidency, 7-1 1; supported by 
Washington as the Federalist 
candidate, 8 ; the campaign the 
most defamatory in American 
politics, 9 ; his vote in the third 
Electoral College, 10, 11 ; de- 
feated for the Presidency, 12-20 ; 
his ungracious departure from 
the Executive Mansion, 20; his 
after-life and death, 20. 

Adams, John Quincy, defeated for 
the Presidency, 35, 37 ; his elec- 
tion to the Presidency by Con- 
gress, 39-46 ; his popular vote, 
42 ; his vote in the tenth Electo- 
ral College, 43, 45 ; the real au- 
thor of the Monroe Doctrine, 46 ; 
defeated for the Presidency, 47- 
51 ; a model President, his after- 
life and death, 45, 46. 

Adams, John Quincy, receives the 
Vice-Presidential nomination of 
the Democratic dissenters in 
1872, 238 ; offered the nomina- 
tion of the Presidency by the 
same party, 238. 

Adams, Samuel, his vote for the 



Presidency in the third Electoral 
College, 10, 11. 

Alien and Sedition laws, passage 
of, and their purposes, 12, 13. 

Allen, Philip, at a national Whig 
convention in 1848, 107. 

American National party, its can- 
didates and platform in 1876, 
260 ; its candidates and platform 
in 1880, 283 ; its candidates and 
platform in 1888, 330-332 ; splits 
on a question of voting, 331. 

American Prohibition National 
party (a split from the Prohibi- 
tion party), its candidates and 
platform in 1884, 304, 305. 

Anti-Mason party, its birth and 
power, 52, 53 ; calls the first po- 
litical national convention ever 
held in the country, at Philadel- 
phia, 52 ; its nominations, 53 ; 
its ticket adopted by the Nation- 
al Republicans in several States, 

54- 

Anti-Monopoly party, its candi- 
dates and platform in 1884, 299- 
301. 

Armstrong, James, his vote for the 
Presidency in the first Electoral 
College, 3, 4. 

Arthur, Chester A., his election to 
the Vice - Presidency, 274-284 ; 
succeeds to the Presidency after 
the death of Garfield, 286 ; his 
admirable adminstration, 286, 
287 ; the author meets him at a 
dinner given by Cameron, 287 ; 
his life after his retirement from 
office, 287. 

Ashman, George, permanent chair- 



405 



INDEX 



man of Republican National Con- 
vention of i860, 157. 

Banks, Nathaniel P., his vote for 
the Vice-Presidency in the twen- 
ty-second Electoral College, 241. 

Barnburners, the, 98, 99, 107. 

Bell, John, the nominee of the 
Constitutional Union party for 
the Presidency, 173, 174; the 
author's account of his debate 
with Johnson, 204. 

Bently, Rev. Charles E., the nom- 
inee for the Presidency of the 
" Broad-Gauge " Prohibitionists, 
386 ; his popular vote, 391. 

Benton, Thomas H., at a national 
Whig convention in 1848, 107. 

Bidwell, John, nominated for the 
Presidency by the Prohibition 
party, 351 ; his popular vote, 

259- 

Birney, James G., the candidate 
of the Abolition party, his first 
defeat for the Presidency, 65, 71, 
72 ; his second defeat for the 
Presidency as the candidate of 
the Liberty party, 90, 91. 

Black, James, nominated for the 
Presidency by the Prohibition 
party in 1872, 228 ; at the Prohi- 
bition National Convention in 
1888, 329. 

Blaine, James G., compared with 
Henry Clay, 244-246 ; at the Re- 
publican convention at Cincin- 
nati in 1876, 247-249, 252 ; his 
efforts to secure the Republican 
nomination for the Presidency in 
1880, 270, 274 ; defeated for the 
Presidency, 288-315 ; he favored 
the nominations of General 
Sherman and Robert T. Lincoln, 
288 ; his nomination, 289 ; his 
popular and electoral vote, 308, 
309 ; why he was defeated in 
New York State and lost the 
election, 309-312 ; how he treat- 
ed the Cleveland scandal, 312 : 
he declines the Presidential 
nomination in 1888, 315 ; his 
after-life, 315. 

Blair, Francis P., shelters Johnson 
during his incapacity after his 



inauguration, 204 ; nominated 
for the Vice-Presidency by the 
Democrats in 1868, 216. 

Booth, Newton, receives the 
"Greenback" nomination for 
the Presidency, 257. 

Bramlette, Thomas E., his vote for 
the Presidency in the twenty- 
second Electoral College, 241. 

Breckenridge, John C, defeated 
for the Presidency, 166-176. 

Brooks, John A., nominated for 
the Vice-Presidency by the Pro- 
hibition party, 329. 

Brown, B. Gratz, the nominee of the 
Liberal Republicans for the Pres- 
idency, 229-231 ; nominated for 
the same office by the Democrats, 
238 ; his vote in the twenty-sec- 
ond Electoral College, 241. 

Bryan, William J., his defeat for 
the Presidency, 361 - 394 ; his 
nomination by the Democratic 
party, 37*-373 ; his nomination 
by the People's party, 378 ; his 
remarkable campaign, 390 ; his 
popular vote, 391 ; his electoral 
vote, 392 ; the remarkable polit- 
ical independence shown in the 
contest, 392-394. 

Buchanan, James, his election to 
the Presidency, 130-153 ; favored 
by the Southern Democrats, 130, 
131 ; his nomination at Cincin- 
nati, 131, 132 ; one of the most 
desperately fought conflicts in 
American politics, 145 ; his pop- 
ular and electoral vote, 148 ; far- 
reaching effects of his quarrel 
with Forney, 149- 151 ; his po- 
litical methods compared with 
those of the present day, 151, 
152, and note ; his determination 
to end the slavery agitation, 152 ; 
his reputation, character, and 
death, 153. 
Buckner, Simon B., the nominee 
of the "Sound Money" Demo- 
crats for the Vice-Presidency, 383. 
Burchard, Rev. Samuel D., his ef- 
fort to restore public confidence 
in Blaine's integrity jeopardizes 
his election to the Presidency, 
310-312. 



406 



INDEX 



Burr, Aaron, his vote for the Pres- 
idency in the second Electoral 
College, 6 ; his character, 9 ; his 
vote in the third Electoral Col- 
lege, 10, 11 ; his election to the 
Vice-Presidency, 12-20 ; his infa- 
mous attempt to defeat Jefferson 
in the Electoral College, 17, 18, 19. 

Butler, Benjamin F., the nominee 
of the Anti-Monopoly party for 
the Presidency, 299 ; receives the 
Presidential nomination of the 
National (" Greenback ") party, 
301 ; his popular vote, 308, 309. 

Calhoun, John C, his first elec- 
tion to the Vice-Presidency, 39- 
45 ; his second election to the 
same office, 49-51; Jackson's 
quarrel with, 52. 

Cameron, Donald J., at the Repub- 
lican convention of 1 876, 248, 
249 ; the chief factor in securing 
the election of Hayes, 265 ; his 
dinner given in honor of Arthur, 
287 ; his strained relations with 
Harrison, 337, 338 ; his defeat of 
the Force bill and how it affected 
his political fortunes, 339, 340. 

Campbell, Judge, his appointment 
as postmaster-general by Pierce 
revives NativeAmericanism, 128. 

Cass, Lewis, how he came to be 
nominated and defeated for the 
Presidency, 98 ; at a Whig na- 
tional convention in 1848, 107 ; 
popular and electoral vote cast 
for him, 112 ; his popularity in 
the West, 113. 

Chamberlain, Edward M., nom- 
inated for the Vice - Presidency 
by the Labor Reform party in 
1872, 227. 

Chambers, B. B., "Greenback" 
candidate for the Vice -Presi- 
dency, 281. 

Chase, Salmon P., his anticipated 
nomination for the Presidency 
by the Democrats, 211, 212 ; how 
his defeat by Tilden was avenged 
by Conkling, 268, 269. 

Clay, Henry, his first defeat for the 
Presidency, 39-45 ; his vote for 
the Vice-Presidency in the tenth 



Electoral College, 43 ; his second 
defeat for the Presidency, 53-57; 
his third defeat for the Presi- 
dency, 75-93 ; his reply to the 
address of the Kentucky electors, 
92, 93 ; compared with Blaine, 
244-246. 

Cleveland, Grover, his first election 
to the Presidency, 288-315 ; the 
spirited and earnest character of 
the campaign, 288 ; his nomina- 
tion, 294 ; his popular and elec- 
toral vote, 308, 309 ; how he 
gamed the vote of New York 
State, 310-312 ; Dana's estrange- 
ment from, 312-315 ; his treat- 
ment of the Blaine scandal, 312 ; 
devoted to his official duties, 314 ; 
his defeat for the Presidency, 
316-336 ; his unanimous nomi- 
nation, 316 ; character of the 
campaign, 332 ; his popular and 
electoral vote, 333 ; why he lost 
the election, 334; governed by 
his convictions, 334 ; his social 
and political character outlined in 
theauthor's intercourse with him, 
335 ; his second election to the 
Presidency, 337-360 ; his nomi- 
nation, 343-345 ; character of the 
campaign, 358 ; his popular and 
electoral vote, 359 ; his contests 
for the Presidency like those of 
Jackson, 360; compared with 
Harrison, 361 ; a review of his 
administration, 362-365; his 
administration condemned at 
the Democratic National Con- 
vention of 1896, 371, 372. 

Clinton, De Witt, defeated for the 
Presidency, 29-31. 

Clinton, George, his vote for the 
Presidency in the first Electoral 
College, 3, 4 ; in the second, 6 ; 
in the third, 10, 11 ; his first elec- 
tion to the Vice-Presidency, 22- 
24 ; his defeat for the Presidency 
and his second election to the 
Vice-Presidency, 25-27 ; died in 
office, 28. 

Cochrane, John, nominated for 
Vice-President by revolting Re- 
publicans in 1864, and his with- 
drawal, 192. 



407 



INDEX 



Cockran,Bourke, his speech against 
the nomination of Cleveland at 
the Democratic National Con- 
vention of 1892, 344. 

Colfax, Schuyler, his election to 
the Vice-Presidency, 210-220. 

Colquitt, Alfred H., his vote for 
the Presidency in the twenty- 
second Electoral College, 241. 

Conant, John A., receives the 
Vice-Presidential nomination of 
the American Prohibition Na- 
tional party, 304. 

Conkling, Roscoe, his efforts to 
secure the nomination of Grant 
at the Republican convention of 
1S80, at Chicago, 270, 271, 274 ; 
his breach with Garfield, 284, 
285 ; his strained relations with 
Arthur, 286 ; his retirement from 
politics and his death, 285, 286. 

Constitutional Union party, its 
convention at Baltimore in i860, 
and its candidates and platform, 

173, 174. 

Contested Presidential elections, 
and the statute relating to, 401- 
404. 

Cooper, Peter, receives the 
"Greenback" nomination for 
President, 257. 

Corwin, Thomas, his illustration 
of the Taylor-Cass campaign in 
a speech in Ohio, 113, 114. 

Cowdrey, Robert H., nominated 
for the Presidency by the United 
Labor party, 327. 

Cranfill, J. P., the Vice-Presiden- 
tial nominee of the Prohibition 
party, 351. 

Crawford, William H., defeated for 
the Presidency, 39-45. 

Curtin, Andrew G., his visit to 
Johnson accompanied by the 
author, 205-207 ; a candidate for 
the nomination of Vice-Presi- 
dent in 1868, 210 ; a cabinet posi- 
tion refused him by Grant, who 
appoints him minister to Russia, 
222 ; his courage in opposing 
pernicious pension legislation 
exposes the cowardice of Con- 
gressmen, 364, 365. 

Curtis, James Langdon, nomi- 



nated for the Presidency by the 
American party, 331. 

Dallas, George M., his election 
to the Vice-Presidency in 1844, 
75-93- 

Dana, Charles A., the story of his 
bitter estrangement from Cleve- 
land, 312-315 ; his ability and 
character, 313. 

Daniel, John W., elected chairman 
of the Democratic National Con- 
vention of 1896, 371. 

Daniel, William, the Vice-Presi- 
dential nominee of the Prohibi- 
tion party in 1884, 305. 

Davis, David, works for the nom- 
ination of Lincoln, 157 ; nomi- 
nated for the Presidency by the 
Labor Reform party, 227, 228 ; 
favored as the nominee of the 
Liberal Republicans in 1872, 
229 ; his vote for President in 
the twenty-second Electoral Col- 
lege, 241 ; his declination of 
service on the Hayes -Tilden 
Electoral Commission, and its 
results, 264. 

Davis, Jefferson, his tribute to Lin- 
coln, 200, 201 ; Johnson puzzled 
how to dispose of him, 206, 207. 

Dearborn, Henry A. S., nominat- 
ed to the Vice - Presidency by 
the Native American party, no. 

Depew, Chauncey M., at the Re- 
publican National Convention of 
1888, 319, 320. 

Donelson, Andrew Jackson, re- 
ceives the. Vice-Presidential nom- 
ination of the American Nation- 
al Council, 142. 

Dougherty, Daniel, his memorable 
speech before the Democratic 
National Convention of 1880, 
278, 279. 

Douglas, Stephen A., his defeat 
for the Presidency, 166-176. 

Dow, Neal, the Presidential nomi- 
nee of the Prohibition party in 
1880, 282 ; at the Prohibition con- 
vention of 1888, 329. 



Electoral and popular votes for 
Presidents and Vice-Presidents, 



408 



INDEX 



with their States and parties, 

395-397- 

Electoral College, vote of the first, 
3, 4; of the second, 6 ; of the 
third, 10, 11 ; of the fourth, 15, 
16, 18 ; of the fifth, 24 ; of the 
sixth, 27; of the seventh, 30; of 
the eighth, 34, 35; of the ninth, 
36, 37; of the tenth, 43, 45; of 
the eleventh, 51; of the twelfth, 
56, 57; of the thirteenth, 64; of 
the fourteenth, 73 ; of the fif- 
teenth, 91; of the sixteenth, 112; 
of the seventeenth, 127; of the 
eighteenth, 148 ; of the nine- 
teenth, 175, 176; of the twen- 
tieth, 193, 194 ; of the twenty- 
first, 217, 218 ; of the twenty-sec- 
ond, 241; of the twenty-third, 
264 ; of the twenty-fourth, 283, 
284; of the twenty-fifth, 308, 309; 
of the twenty-sixth, 333; of the 
twenty-seventh, 359; of the twen- 
ty-eighth, 392. 

Electors, how the functions of, 
were first exercised, 11, 16. 

Ellmaker, Amos, nominated for 
the Vice-Presidency by the Anti- 
Mason party, 53; his vote in 
the twelfth Electoral College, 56, 

57- 

Ellsworth, Oliver, his vote for the 
Presidency in the third Electoral 
College, 10, 11. 

English, William H.,his defeat for 
the Vice-Presidency, 279-284. 

Evans, Samuel, receives the Vice- 
Presidential nomination of the 
Union Labor party, 325. 

Everett, Edward, nominated for 
the Vice-Presidency by the Con- 
stitutional Union party, 173. 

Federal party, the, preferred by 
Washington, Adams, and Ham- 
ilton, 2, 5, 7, 8 ; opposed by Jef- 
ferson, 5, 7; its policy, 7, 8 ; 
passes the Alien and Sedition 
laws, 12 ; its bitter opposition to 
Jefferson, 21, 22, 23 ; practically 
overthrown by the success of 
the war of 1812, 32; perishes 
with the election of Monroe, 39. 

Fenton, Reuben E,, his reluctance 



to aid in the nomination of Gree- 
ley to the Presidency, 230. 

Field, James G., receives the Peo- 
ple's party nomination for the 
Vice-Presidency, 353. 

Fillraore, Millard, his election to 
the Vice-Presidency, 105-112 ; he 
succeeds to the Presidency after 
the death of Taylor, 116; he re- 
verses the policy of the adminis- 
tration, 116; his defeat for the 
Presidency, 130-153. 

Fisk, Clinton B., nominated for 
the Presidency by the Prohibi- 
tion party, 329 ; his popular vote, 

333- 

Floyd, John, his defeat for the 
Presidency, 56, 57. 

Foote, Rev. Charles E., candidate 
of the Liberty League for Vice- 
President in 1848, in. 

Forney, Colonel John W., obtains 
the consent of Grant to accept 
the Republican nomination to 
the Presidency, 203. 

Franklin, Benjamin, solicited to 
become the competitor of Wash- 
ington, 3. 

Free- Silver party. See People's 
party. 

Free-Soil Democratic party, its first 
convention and nominees, 107, 
108; its platform, 108-110; its 
candidates and platform in 1852, 
123-126. 

Fremont, John C, his defeat for the 
Presidency, 130-153 ; his nom- 
ination by the first Republican 
National Convention, at Phila- 
delphia, 136-138; his nomina- 
tion endorsed by the anti-slavery 
seceders from the American Na- 
tional Council, 143 ; visited by 
the author, 147 ; his nomination 
for President by revolting Re- 
publicans to defeat Lincoln, and 
his final rejection of it, 192. 

Garfield, James A., his election 
to the Presidency, 270-287 ; his 
nomination, 271-274 ; character 
of the campaign, 283 ; his popu- 
lar and electoral vote, 283, 284 ; 
his character, 284 ; his disa- 



409 



INDEX 



greement with Conkling, 284, 
285. 

Gerry, Elbridge, his election to the 
Vice-Presidency, 28-31. 

Gould, Jay, what a dinner with, 
cost Blaine, 310. 

Graham, William A., receives the 
Whig nomination to the Vice- 
Presidency in 1852, 121. 

Granger, Francis, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 63, 64. 

©rant, General Ulysses S., his first 
election to the Presidency, 202- 
220 ; the obstacles to his nomina- 
tion, 202, 203 ; his dispute with 
Johnson, 204 ; refuses to ride 
with Johnson to the inauguration 
ceremonies, 204 ; his nomination 
at Chicago, 209-211 ; his popular 
and electoral vote, '217, 218 ; his 
second election to thePresidency, 
221-243 ; his unfitness for civil 
affairs, 221-223; the author's 
well - intended suggestions to 
him, 222, 223 ; his re-election op- 
posed by the author, 223 ; his 
discussion of public affairs with 
the author, 223-225 ; his despotic 
control of the party machinery, 
225 ; how his name was changed, 
235 ; at the grave of Greeley, 
243 ; scandals which disgraced 
his administration, 246 ; his dis- 
cussion of the question of a third 
term, 246 ; Conkling presents his 
name as a candidate for a third 
term of the Presidency before 
the Republican National Con- 
vention of 1880, 270, 271 ; his 
disappointment at not securing 
a nomination to a third term, 

277. 
Greeley, Horace, denounces the 
leaders of the Abolition party for 
defeating Clay, 90 ; disgruntled 
at the nomination of Taylor, 105; 
finally decides to support Taylor, 
and is sent to Congress by the 
Whigs of New York, 105; opposes 
the nomination of Seward to the 
Presidency, 155 ; opposes the re- 
nomination of Lincoln, 183 ; his 
defeat for the Presidency, 221- 
243 ; his nomination at Cincin- 



nati, 228-234 ; nominated by the 
Democrats at Baltimore, 238 ; 
his popular vote, 239, 240 ; his 
electoral vote, 241 ; cause of his 
defeat, 242 ; incidents of his cam- 
paign, 242, 243 ; his sad death, 
240, 243. 

" Greenback " (or Independent Na- 
tional) party, under the leader- 
ship of George H. Pendleton, 
219, 220 ; its candidates and 
platform in 1876, 257, 258 ; its 
candidates and platform in 1880, 
281, 282. 

Greer, James R., nominated for the 
Vice-Presidency by the American 
party, 331. 

Groesbeck, William S., his vote 
for the Vice-Presidency in the 
twenty-second Electoral College, 
241. 

Hale, John P., nominated for the 
Presidency by the Liberty party, 
in ; nominated for the Presi- 
dency by the Free-Soil Demo- 
crats, 123. 

Hamilton, Alexander, in sympathy 
with Washington and Adams, 
and opposed to Jefferson, 7, 8. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, his election to 
the Vice-Presidency in i860, 154- 
169. 

Hancock, John, his vote for the 
Presidency in the first Electoral 
College, 3, 4. 

Hancock, Winfield S., defeated for 
the Presidency, 278-284; his 
popular and electoral vote, 283- 
284. 

Hanna, Mark A., his mistake in 
making McKinley straddle the 
money question, 365, 366. 

Harper, Robert G., his first defeat 
for the Vice-Presidency, 34, 35 ; 
his second defeat for the Vice- 
Presidency, 36, 37. 

Harrison, Benjamin, his election 
to the Presidency, 316-336 ; his 
nomination, 319, 320 ; character 
of the campaign, 332; his popular 
and electoral vote, 333 ; his ad- 
ministration not a tranquil one, 
337-340 ; defeated for the Presi- 



410 



INDEX 



dency, 337-360 ; his nomination, 
340, 341 ; character of the cam- 
paign, 358 ; his popular and elec- 
toral vote, 359. 

Harrison, Robert H., his vote for 
the Presidency in the first Elec- 
toral College, 3, 4. 

Harrison, William Henry, defeat- 
ed for the Presidency, 59-64 ; 
character of the campaign, 161 ; 
his election to the Presidency, 
65-74 1 birth of the Abolition 
party during the campaign, 65 ; 
how his nomination was se- 
cured, 67, 68 ; a national party 
platform presented for the first 
time during this election, 70 ; the 
campaign one of great popular 
interest, 71 ; his popular and 
electoral vote, 71, 72, 73 ; his 
death shortly after his inaugu- 
ration, 73. 

Hayes, Rutherford B., his election 
to the Presidency, 244-267 ; his 
nomination, 249; his popular 
vote, 262 ; his election decided 
by the Electoral Commission ap- 
pointed by Congress, 263 ; his 
electoral vote as determined by 
the Electoral Commission, 264. 

Hendricks, Thomas A., nominated 
for the Vice-Presidency, 253 ; his 
election to the Vice-Presidency, 
294-309. 

Henry, John, his vote for the Pres- 
idency in the third Electoral Col- 
lege, 10, n. 

Hill, David B., at the Democratic 
National Convention of 1896, 
37i, 372. 

Hobart, Garret A., his election to 
the Vice -Presidency, 367-394; 
his electoral vote, 392. 

Houston, General Samuel, at a na- 
tional Whig convention in 1848, 
107. 

Howard, John Eager, his vote for 
Vice-President in the eighth 
Electoral College, 34, 35. 

Hughes, Archbishop, how Sew- 
ard's friendship for, deprived 
him of the nomination for the 
Presidency, 156. 

Hunkers, the, 98, 99. 



Huntington, Samuel, his vote for 
the Presidency in the first Elec- 
toral College, 3, 4. 

Industrial Congress party and 
their candidates in 1848, in. 

Ingersoll, Jared, Federalist nomi- 
nee for Vice-President in 1804, 
29; his electoral vote, 30. 

Ingersoll, Robert G., his speech 
nominating Bjlaine before the 
Republican convention of 1876, 
247, 248. 

Iredell, James, his vote for the 
Presidency in the third Electoral 
College, 10, n. 

Jackson, Andrew, defeated for 
the Presidency, 39-45 ; though 
receiving the largest popular 
and electoral vote, 42, 43 ; his 
vote for the Vice-Presidency in 
the tenth Electoral College, 43 ; 
his first election to the Presi- 
dency, 47-51 ; his initiation of 
the spoils system, 47 ; character 
of his campaign and to what 
his popularity was due, 47-49 ; 
his popular and electoral vote, 
50, 51 ; his second election to 
the Presidency, 51-58 ; confused 
condition of politics during his 
second campaign, 51, 52; his 
popular and electoral vote, 55, 
56, 57 ; his after-life and death, 
58. 

Jay, John, his vote for the Presi- 
dency in the first Electoral Col- 
lege, 3, 4; in the third, 10, n; 
in the fourth, 15, 16. 

Jefferson, Thomas, his vote for 
the Presidency in the second 
Electoral College, 6 ; his election 
to the Vice-Presideney, 7-1 1 ; his 
election to the Presidency de- 
feated by the influence of Wash- 
ington, 9 ; defamatory character 
of the campaign, 9 ; his first elec- 
tion to the Presidency, 12-16 ; 
the revolutionary character of 
the campaign, 12, 13 ; his vote 
in the fourth Electoral College, 
15, 16, 18 ; Burr's infamous at- 
tempt to deprive him of his elec- 



411 



INDEX 



tion, 17. 18, 19; his honorable 

rt: _ Ei. :: rft:: zii z.t:..:z. :j 
~ i "•- ; - r 1 -=V. ~.: _ :.'-.t rt-ierEl- 
ists, 17, iS; his opposition to 

z ■ : ~ t z r. 1 : t : t ~ : r. 7 ; : 2:5 
= e::'d t.t: "..:.-. :: ::t Presi- 
dency, 21-24.; bitterly opposed 

17 :it rrier^l:=i=. 2: lis ;_r- 
: _ e 5 1 :: _:_.;_ i ~ i 21 -'- ; 
1 : . _ . 1 r - : : t : - e : = . : : t : e ie t 
e::'e ::t::::-:':::.::: :_ "- 

~t -..•:.:. ; lEErle; J.. r_:= v::t ::: 
lz= PresiEtEij :e EEt :~ ±e\:j- 

::~-jiii": r:::.:::.:: P etet 

':-jee=:e Htrs:*Et* V e:ee ;Ei:ti 
- — ^ t V;:t-Pre= it :~: 


K:r>ri:-:k _ :EEli E:EE.~E:ti 
::: 1'-= '.". : t-r rt 5 . :t - : 7 . ".:_. 

; 1 r rr. :: ; : ~ 1 1 1 5 — - - ~ ■"---" 1 1 r - 
Y: :t - ? r±-=: it: .17 :e : e t = 

: I'l z - zi rrv 

... ...- ee — e ~'~ s t s 

:; lit ?:■::. it- : :f_i-:r: ;- 1 


:. '-'.~iT'l. '-. — i'EIr" IE 


183; his strength with the pen- 



Kiet r.-_:_5 e:e fr=: ititi: :':: rtr. : ~ :e i: : - :l_ r. s _r.:ti- 

e:: 



INDEX 



sonable request, 184, 185 ; he 
seeks the nomination of Andrew 
Johnson for Vice-President rath- 
er than that of Hamlin, and his 
reason for the preference, 185, 
186 ; his unanimous renomina- 
tion at Baltimore, 186 ; an at- 
tempt to create a revolt against 
him in the Republican party, 
191-193 ; his election made cer- 
tain by the victories of Sherman 
and Sheridan, 193 ; his popular 
and electoral vote, 194 ; vote of 
the soldiers, 194 ; his friends' ef- 
forts to win Pennsylvania, 195 ; 
and how the State was carried, 
196, 197 ; he favored compen- 
sated emancipation, 197, 198 ; 
his character and traits, 198, 199 ; 
the unpardonable assaults upon 
his reputation, 199; his home 
life, 199, 200 ; a tribute from Jef- 
ferson Davis, 200, 201 ; he sus- 
pects that Grant favored the elec- 
tion of McClellan, 224. 

Lincoln, Benjamin, his vote for 
the Presidency in the first Elec- 
toral College, 3, 4. 

Lincoln, Robert T., a candidate 
for the Democratic nomination 
to the Presidency, 288, 289. 

McClellan, General George B., 
defeated for the Presidency, 183- 
294. 

McGlynn, Rev. Edward, prepares 
the platform of the United La- 
bor party, 327-329. 

Machen, Willis B., his vote for the 
Presidency in the twenty-second 
Electoral College, 241. 

Machett, Charles H., nominated 
for the Vice-Presidency by the 
Socialists' Labor party, 357; nom- 
inated for the Presidency by the 
same party, 388; his popular 
vote, 391. 

Mackey , Robert W. , how he thwart- 
ed the Democrats in holding 
Florida for Tilden, 265. 

McKinley, William, the disastrous 
effect of his tariff bill, 340; pres- 
ident of the Republican National 
Convention of 1892, 340; his elec- 



tion to the Presidency, 361-394; 
his nomination, 365; his strad- 
dle of the money issue, 365, 366; 
his popular vote, 391; his elec- 
toral vote, 392; the lesson of the 
campaign, 392-394. 

McLean, John R., at the Demo- 
cratic National Convention of 
1896, 373. 

Macon, Nathaniel, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 43. 

Madison, James, his first almost 
unanimous election to the Presi- 
dency, 25-27; his vote in the 
sixth Electoral College, 27 ; his 
second election to the Presidency, 
28-31 ; his nomination depended 
upon his vigorous war policy 
with England, 28 ; his vote in 
the seventh Electoral College, 

30, 31. 
Maguire, Matthew, the nominee 

of the Socialists' Labor party for 

Vice-President, 388. 
Mangum, Willie P., defeated for 

the Presidency, 59-64. 
Manning, Daniel, secures the first 

nomination of Cleveland to the 

Presidency, 293, 294. 
Marshall, John, defeated for the 

Vice-Presidency, 34, 35. 
Medill, Colonel Joseph, leads the 

fight for Lincoln in Republican 

National Convention of i860, 

157- 

Milton, John, his vote for the Presi- 
dency in the first Electoral Col- 
lege, 3, 4. 

Monroe, James, his vote for the 
Vice - Presidency in the sixth 
Electoral College, 27 ; his first 
election to the Presidency, 32- 
35 ; his animated canvass for 
the nomination, 33 ; Federalists 
make little or no opposition, 34; 
his vote in the eighth Electoral 
College, 34, 35 ; his second elec- 
tion to the Presidency, 35, 38 ; 
his election unanimous, no for- 
mal nominations being made by 
any party, 35, 36 ; the vote of 
the ninth Electoral College, 36- 
37 ; his peaceful reign, after-life, 
and death, 32, 38. 



413 



INDEX 



Morton, Levi P., his election to the 
Vice-Presidency, 320-326. 

National Democratic ("Sound 
Money") party, its candidates 
and platform in 1896, 382-385. 

National ("Greenback") party, its 
candidates and platform in 1884, 
301-304. 

Native American (or " Know-Noth- 
ing") party, birth of, no, in; 
its first convention and candi- 
dates, no; its nomination of 
General Taylor, 103 ; its evolu- 
tion into the American National 
Council, which meets at Phila- 
delphia in 1856 and nominates 
Millard Fillmore for President 
and Andrew Jackson Donelson 
for Vice-President, 140-142 ; its 
platform, 142, 143; its disappear- 
ance, 174. 

O'Conor, Charles, nominated for 
the Presidency by Democratic 
dissenters in 1872, 238; he de- 
clines the nomination, 238. 

Palmer, John M., his vote for the 
Presidency in the twenty-second 
Electoral College, 241 ; the nom- 
inee for the Presidency by the 
"Sound Money" Democrats, 
383; his popular vote, 391. 

Parker, Joel; nominated for the 
Vice -Presidency by the Labor 
Reformers, 227, 228. 

Pendleton, George H., nominated 
for the Vice- Presidency, 190; 
leads the "Greenback" party, 
and looks for the Democratic 
nomination to the Presidency, 
219. 

People's party, its candidates and 
platform in 1892, 353~357; its 
candidates and platform in 1896, 
377-382. 

Phelps, John W., nominated for 
President by the American par- 
ity, 283. 

Pierce, Franklin, his election to 
the Presidency, 115 -129; his 
nomination at Baltimore, 117, 
118 ; the Democrats enthusiastic 



in his support, 119, 120 ; his pop- 
ular and electoral vote, 127 ; his 
wanton reopening of the slavery 
issue, 127, 128 ; his appointment 
of Judge Campbell to his cabinet 
excites^ the Native Americans, 
128 ; his failure to secure a re- 
nomination, 129. 
Pinckney, Charles C, his vote for 
the Presidency in the third Elec- 
toral College, 10, 11 ; in the 
fourth, 15, 16 ; his first defeat 
for the Presidency, 23, 24 ; his 
second defeat for the Presi- 
dency, 26, 27. 
Pinckney, Thomas, his vote for 
the Presidency in the third Elec- 
toral College, 10, 11. 
Piatt, Thomas C, backs his col- 
league in his disagreement with 
Garfield, 285. 
Polk, James K., defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 73 ; his election 
to the Presidency, 75-93;- his 
nominaiton at Baltimore, 79, 82 ; 
his party's platform, 82, 83 ; his 
popular and electoral vote, 91 ; in- 
cidents of the campaign, 91-93. 
Pomeroy, Samuel C, the nominee 
of the American party for the 
Vice-Presidency, 283 ; receives 
the Presidential nomination of 
the American Prohibition Na- 
tional party, 304. 
Popular vote, the, in early nation- 
al contests had no particular 
significance, 10. 
Populists. See People's party. 
Presidential elections, contested, 

the law regulating, 401-404. 
Presidents and Vice-Presidents of 
the United States, with many 
facts concerning their elections 
and tenure of office, 397-399 ; the 
law regulating the Presidential 
succession, 399, 400. 
Prohibition party, holds a national 
convention in 1872 and nomi- 
nates candidates for President 
andVice-President, 228; its candi- 
dates and platform in 1876, 258- 
260 ; its candidates and platform 
in 1880, 282 ; its candidates and 
platform in 1884, 305-308 ; its 



414 



INDEX 



candidates and platform in 1888, 
329, 330 ; its candidates and plat- 
form in 1892, 350-353 ; its candi- 
dates and platform in 1896, 385, 
386 ; the " Broad-Gaugers " with- 
draw from, 386. 
Prohibition (" Broad-Gauge ") par- 
ty, its candidates and platform 
in 1896, 386-388. 

Quay, Matthew S., not in touch 
with Harrison, 337. 

Reed, Thomas B., in the Republi- 
can National Convention of 1896, 

365. 

Reid, Whitelaw, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 341-360. 

Republican (Democratic) party, its 
birth and growth during Wash- 
ington's administration, 3, 7 ; op- 
poses the passage of the Alien 
and Sedition laws, 12, 13 ; its 
sixty years' dominance initiated 
by the election of Jefferson, 21 ; 
divides into National Republi- 
cans and Democratic Republi- 
cans, 53 ; changes its name to the 
"Democratic party" during Jack- 
son's second administration, 52, 
53 ; Jackson's mastery of, 60 ; the 
first party to present a national 
party platform, 70; its platform 
in 1844, 82, 83; its platform in 
1848, 100-102; its platform in 
1852, 118, 119; demoralized by 
the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise, 127, 128, 130; its plat- 
form in 1856, 132-135 ; a split in 
the convention at Charleston in 
i860 results in the nomination 
of two tickets and the adoption 
of two platforms, 166-173 ; its 
platform in 1864, 190, 191 ; its 
hopeless condition at the close 
of the Rebellion, 203 ; how it 
failed to secure the leadership 
of Grant, 203 ; its platform in 
1868, 212-215 ; its platform in 
1872, 237, 238 ; after its nomina- 
tion of Greeley dissenters hold a 
convention and make nomina- 
tions, which are declined, 238 ; 
platform of Democratic dissent- 



ers in 1872, 238, 239; the party 



platform 
platform 
platform in li 
platform in if 



n 1876, 254-257; its 

n 1880, 279-281 ; its 

294-299 ; its 

316-319; its 

platform in 1892, 345-350 ; its 

platform in 1896, 373-377. 

Republican party, its forty years' 
dominance, 21; its birth in 1854, 
in New York, 136 ; its entrance 
into national politics in 1856, 
130, 136-138 ; its first platform, 
139, 140 ; its affiliations with the 
" Know- Nothing" party, 156; 
its convention at Chicago in i860 
the ablest that had ever met up to 
that time, 163, 164 ; its platform 
in i860, 164-166 ; its platform in 
1864, 187, 188 ; why Grant, a 
pro- slavery Democrat, became 
its candidate, 203 ; its platform 
in 1868, 208, 209 ; its platform in 
1872, 235-237 ; its platform in 
1876, 249-252 ; its subversion of 
the popular will in making 
Hayes President, 264-268; its 
platform in 1880, 274-277; its 
platform in 1884, 290-292; its 
platform in 1S88, 320-325 ; its 
platform in 1892, 341-343; its 
platform in 1896, 367-371. 

Rodney, Daniel, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 36, 37. 

Ross, James, defeated for the Vice- 
Presidency, 34, 35. 

Rush, Richard, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 36, 37 ; his sec- 
ond defeat for the same office, 

51. 

Russell, John, nominated for the 
Vice-Presidency by the Prohibi- 
tion party, 228. 

Rutledge, John, his vote for the 
Presidency in the first Electoral 
College, 3, 4. 

St. John, John P., receives the 
Presidential nomination of the 
Prohibition party, 305 ; his pop- 
ular vote, 308, 309 ; at the Na- 
tional Prohibition Convention in 
1888, 329 ; at that of 1892, 350. 

Sanford Nathan, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 43. 



415 



INDEX 



Scott, General Winfield, regarded 
as the first soldier of the Repub- 
lic, 66 ; his fondness for writing 
letters loses him the Presidential 
nomination, 68 ; his invasion of 
Mexico, 95, 96 ; defeated for the 
Presidency, 115-129; his nomi- 
nation at Baltimore, 120, 121. 

Sergeant, John, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 53, 56, 57. 

Sewall, Arthur, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 373-394; his 
electoral vote, 392. 

Seward, William H., his ability 
and character, and how he failed 
to be nominated for the Presi- 
dency, 154-162. 

Seymour, Horatio, defeated for the 
Presidency, 202-220 ; his nomi- 
nation at New York, 211 -216; 
his popular and electoral vote, 
217, 21S. 

Sherman, John, a candidate for 
the Democratic nomination of 
President in 1880, 288, 289. 

Smith, Gerrit, nominated in 1848 for 
the Presidency by the Liberty 
League party and the Industrial 
Congress party, 111. 

Smith, Greene Clay, is nominated 
for the Presidency by the Prohi- 
bitionists, 258. 

Smith, William, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 51 ; -again de- 
feated for the same office, 63, 64. 

Socialists' Labor party, its candi- 
dates and platform in 1892, 357, 
35S ; its candidates and platform 
in 1896, 388-390. 

Southgate, James A., the Vice-Pres- 
idential nominee of the " Broad- 
Gauge" Prohibition party, 3S6. 

Stevens, Thaddeus, how he carried 
the Whig convention for Harri- 
son, 6S. 

Stevenson, Adlai E., his election to 
the Vice-Presidency, 345-360. 

Stewart, G. T., nominated for the 
Vice - Presidency by the Prohi- 
bitionists, 258. 

Stockton, Richard, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 36, 37. 

Streeter, Alson J., receives the 
Presidential nomination of the 



Union Labor party, 325 ; his pop- 
ular vote, 333. 
Swett, Leonard, Lincoln's closest 
friend, works for his nomination, 
157. 

Tammany Hall, its opposition to 
Tilden causes its rejection from 
the Democratic National Con- 
vention of 1S80, 278 ; its attempt 
to control the Democratic Na- 
tional Convention in 1884, 292, 
293 ; its delegates oppose the 
unanimous nomination of Cleve- 
land, but welcome that of Hen- 
dricks with the heartiest cheers, 
294 ; and the Sun, its organ, de- 
feated Cleveland for the Presi- 
dency in 1S88, 315, 335, 336; its 
protest ignored in the national 
convention of 1892, 344. 

Taylor, Zachary, his election to 
the Presidency, 94, 114 ; his cam- 
paign in Mexico, 95 ; his vote in 
the convention, 104 ; sends the 
letter notifying him of his nomi- 
nation to the dead-letter office, 
106 ; episodes of the nominating 
convention, 107 ; birth of the Na- 
tive American party during this 
campaign, no ; his popular and 
electoral vote, 112 ; how Corwin 
helped him, 113, 114 ; his cabinet 
and its policy, 115 ; his death, 
116. 

Tazewell, L. W., his vote in the 
fourteenth Electoral College for 
Vice-President, 73. 

Tellfair, Edward, his vote for the 
Presidency in the first Electoral 
College, 3, 4. 

Texas, the question of its annexa- 
tion, 94, 95. 

Thompson, A. M., nominated for 
the Vice-Presidency by the Pro- 
hibition party, 2S2. 

Thurman, Allen G., a candidate 
for the Presidential nomination 
of the Anti-Monopoly party, 299 ; 
his defeat for the Vice-Presiden- 
cy, 316-336. 

Tilden, Samuel J., how Grant 
would have enforced the decision 
of the Electoral Commission in 



416 



INDEX 



the case of his disputed election, 
223 ; his defeat for the Presiden- 
cy, 244-267 ; his character and 
reputation, 252 ; earnestness of 
the campaign, 261 ; his popular 
vote, 262 ; Congress creates the 
Electoral Commission to decide 
the election of, 263 ; his electoral 
vote, as determined by the Elec- 
toral Commission, 264; his 
weakness in protecting his own 
interests, 265, 266; his defeat at- 
tributed to Conkling, who grati- 
fied a grudge caused by Tilden's 
defeat of Chase for the Demo- 
cratic nomination for the Presi- 
dency in 1868, 268, 269 ; his nom- 
ination opposed by Tammany 
Hall in the Democratic National 
Convention of 1880, 278. 

Tompkins, Daniel D., his first elec- 
tion to the Vice-Presidency, 34, 
35 ; his second election to the 
Vice-Presidency, 35, 37. 

Tyler, John, defeated for the Vice- 
Presidency, 63,64; his election 
to the Vice-Presidency, 65-74 ; 
succeeds to the Presidency on the 
death of Harrison, 74 ; his wreck- 
ing of the Whig party, 75-77 ; his 
life after his retirement, 77 ; ap- 
proves the bill annexing Texas a 
few days before the inaugura- 
tion of Polk, 94. 

Union Labor party, its candidates 

and platform in 1888, 325-327. 
United Labor party, its candidates 

and platform in 1888, 327-329 ; 

its candidates and platform in 

1896, 388-390. 

Vallandigham, Clement L., fore- 
most in organizing the Liberal 
Republican party, 229. 

Van Buren, Martin, defeated for 
the Vice - Presidency, 43 ; his 
election to the Vice-Presidency, 
56, 57 ; his election to the Presi- 
dency, 59-64 ; and the birth of 
the Whig party, 50; his nomina- 
tion dictated by Jackson, 60 ; 
the campaign one of intense bit- 
terness, 61, 62 ; his popular and 



electoral vote, 62, 63, 64; defeated 
for the Presidency, 65-74 ; causes 
of his unpopularity, 68, 69 ; his 
defeat for the Presidency, 94- 
114. 

Wade, Benjamin F., a candidate 
for the nomination of Vice-Presi- 
dent, an example of the swift 
mutations in American politics, 
210, 211. 

Waitt, William S., nominated in 
1848 for the Vice-Presidency by 
the Industrial Congress party, 
in. 

Wakefield, W. H.'T., receives the 
Vice-Presidential nomination of 
the United Labor party, 327. 

Walker, James B., nominated for 
the Presidency by the American 
National party, 260. 

Washington, George, his first 
election to the Presidency, 1-4 ; 
he received no formal nomina- 
tion, 2; a pronounced Federal- 
ist, 2; opposition to his election, 
2, 3 ; vote of the first Electoral 
College, 3, 4; his second election 
to the Presidency, 4-6 ; vote of 
the second Electoral College, 5, 6; 
regarded as the richest man in 
the country, 7 ; his vote for the 
Presidency in the third Electoral 
College, 10, 11. 

Watson, Thomas E., the nominee 
of the People's party for the 
Vice-Presidency, 378 ; his popu- 
lar and electoral vote, 391, 392. 

Weaver, James B., "Greenback" 
candidate for the Presidency, 
281 ; receives the People's party 
nomination for the Presidency, 
353 ; his popular and electoral 
vote, 359. 

Webster, Daniel, defeated for the 
Presidency, 59-64. 

Weed, Thurlow, leads the fight for 
Seward in the Republican Na- 
tional Convention of i860, 157 ; 
disappointed at Lincoln's nom- 
ination, he refuses to name a 
candidate for the Vice -Presi- 
dency, 162. 

West, A. M., receives the Vice- 



417 



INDEX 



Presidential nomination of the 
National ("Greenback") party, 
301. 

Wheeler, William A., his election 
to the Vice - Presidency, 249- 
269. 

Whig party, birth of, 59 ; wreck 
of, by Tyler, 75-77 ; its nomina- 
tion of Clay, 89, 90 ; its platform 
for 1844, 84 ; its lack of harmony 
in campaign of 1848, 103-106 ; its 
platform in the campaign of 
1852, 121-123 ; makes its final 
battle, 128 ; in 1856 nominates 
the candidates of the American 
National Union, 143 ; its plat- 
form, 143-145. 

White, Hugh L., defeated for the 
Presidency, 63, 64. 



Whitney, William C, whose leader- 
ship secured the third Presiden- 
tial nomination of Cleveland in 
1898, 344. 

" Wide-Awakes," the, description 
of, 174, 175. 

Wilkins, William, defeated for the 
Vice-Presidency, 56, 57. 

Wilson, Henry, his nomination foi 
the Vice-Presidency, 235, 241 ; 
how his name was changed, 235. 

Wing, Simon, nominated for the 
Presidency by the Socialists' La- 
bor party, 357 ; his popular vote, 

359- 
Wirt, William, the nominee for 
President of the Anti- Mason 
party, 53 ; his vote in the twelfth 
Electoral College, 56, 57. 



THE END 



BISMARCK'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



BISMARCK, The Man and the Statesman : Being the 
Reflections and Reminiscences of Otto, Prince von 
Bismarck, Written and Dictated by Himself after his 
Retirement from Office. Translated from the German 
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Trinity College, Cambridge. Two Vols. With Two 
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In his reflections and reminiscences, Prince Bismarck presents 
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polished manner of a man of the world, keeping his tongue under 
control, a great and commanding figure, self-centred and self-re. 
strained, a courtier and a statesman, filling not unworthily with 
his gigantic personality the world -stage on which he moved. — 
London Times. 

The book is remarkably full as regards internal affairs and espe- 
cially as regards the influences which prevailed at the Berlin court, 
as to the characters both of the kings of Prussia and the other men 
with whom Bismarck was brought in contact, and it contains a 
minute criticism on the workings of the Prussian and German 
Constitutions. — London Daily Chronicle. 

This is a great work, one of the most important produced in 
modern times. It is a work gloriously full of great lights, and 
carries the study of the founding and founded empire and its in- 
ner motives on through the Gulturkampf down to the last days of 
the lamented Frederick I. — Independent, N. Y. 



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THE RIGHT HONORABLE WILLIAM EWART 
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and breathed the air of Parliament ever since. Yet it would not 
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chapter, in which he analyzes Mr. Gladstone's character, is elo- 
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